Destruction and Survival of the Written Word in Joseph Addison’s Periodical Prose

Abstract

Joseph Addison’s periodical essay is a provocative and fragile construction into which he often reflects the metamorphoses of the written word as paper written, printed and read, making the annihilation of printed paper a recurrent theme in his prose. If literate readers considered written or printed artefacts as familiar objects, why did Addison so often draw their attention to their annihilation ? Not only did Addison exorcize the inevitable fate that awaited his creation, he also highlighted the ease with which the written word was interpreted as a material, an ornament or a valuable receptacle. Yet such versatility is not just a compliment paid to his readers. It may also sound a sober warning, since commerce trivializes the written word into a commodity, to sometimes degrading extremes. Addison thus alludes to a telling anecdote gleaned from his own father’s prose where the danger of devaluation affects the divine written word.