I didn't take it that way, either, and didn't mean to imply that I did - so I'm sorry if it came across that way! I just figure that even if you're immortal and have an excellent memory, you may want a means of storing and above all sharing knowledge - in other words, I'm not sure that the major way in which Elves differ from us would make a difference in this particular context. (After all, there are human cultures that do, or at least did, just fine without writing, even though their adherents are or were mortal and have "only" the normal human potential for remembering knowledge.)
By literate culture, I do mean that the entire culture is based around the conception that "everyone" can read (and probably write). So no, a culture that is technically aware of the possibility of writing but doesn't make much use of it wouldn't be "literate", even though single individuals who belong to that culture might be literate. To illustrate, Anglo-Saxon culture was very much oral, even though writing existed and some people, such as Alcuin, Bede or Cynewulf, were very much literate. Middle English culture was somewhere in-between: Literacy was becoming essential at least for the upper and (later) middle classes, although as a lowly commoner you could still do perfectly well without "knowing your letters". Today, if you're illiterate, you're pretty much left out of normal cultural participation. I'm assuming that the Noldor would be more like us, and the Sindar would be more like the Anglo-Saxons! (OH CRAP HERE I AM LECTURING AGAIN)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-05-12 04:30 pm (UTC)I just figure that even if you're immortal and have an excellent memory, you may want a means of storing and above all sharing knowledge - in other words, I'm not sure that the major way in which Elves differ from us would make a difference in this particular context. (After all, there are human cultures that do, or at least did, just fine without writing, even though their adherents are or were mortal and have "only" the normal human potential for remembering knowledge.)
By literate culture, I do mean that the entire culture is based around the conception that "everyone" can read (and probably write). So no, a culture that is technically aware of the possibility of writing but doesn't make much use of it wouldn't be "literate", even though single individuals who belong to that culture might be literate. To illustrate, Anglo-Saxon culture was very much oral, even though writing existed and some people, such as Alcuin, Bede or Cynewulf, were very much literate. Middle English culture was somewhere in-between: Literacy was becoming essential at least for the upper and (later) middle classes, although as a lowly commoner you could still do perfectly well without "knowing your letters". Today, if you're illiterate, you're pretty much left out of normal cultural participation. I'm assuming that the Noldor would be more like us, and the Sindar would be more like the Anglo-Saxons!
(OH CRAP HERE I AM LECTURING AGAIN)