“History is written by the victors.”i So said Winston Churchill – or at least the aphorism is attributed to him. The latter caveat is added because, as one individualii put it, “this 'proverb' is so manifestly true, that I believe almost every nation throughout history … [had thinkers who] … would easily observe this.” In fact, it is often quoted by historians who would caution their readers against believing everything they read – especially the work of other historians. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone seems to focus on the history itself.
From my perspective, however, the most interesting lesson which is taught by this maxim is embodied in the first three words – “History is written.” Our memories don't constitute adequate repositories of information for more than a limited period. What we know has to be recorded in some way. “Recorded history” relates to the time since writing was first used and, consequently, prehistoric times were those before people started writing.iii Things happened then, and people presumably related them in some way to each other, but there is no written record of it – either what actually happened or what the victors chose to remember.
Thus the key to the past, and to the present, is writing.iv Writing started, according to historians – whose word we take at face value – at least as early as the sixth millenium BCE.v So it's been around a long time. Until the time of Gutenberg almost every written document was unique. There was occasional printing using wood blocks, but the vast majority of documents were written and not printed. However following the development of printing using movable type, attitudes changed. It was inevitable. Printing companies were soon established in order to allow the printing of multiple identical representations of what before had been limited to a single copy that had been, often laboriously, crafted by the document's author or a copyist.vi
The printers allowed people to produce enough copies to sell or distribute otherwise – a process we now call “self-publication.” More recently, in the past few centuries, publishing companies have been established because, as with all commercial efforts, there was money to be made. So they weren't always viewed favorably. As recently as 1911, Encyclopedia Britannica described such ventures with disdain as "purely commercial affair[s]," emphasizing the profit motive rather than any effort to encourage literary excellence. Occasionally another motive played a part in the publish/don't publish decision,vii but the decision was usually based on anticipated profits.
That, of course, meant that many authors with valuable messages, or superb writing ability, have not been able to find publishers. All-knowing publishers didn't believe that they could make a buckviii on the work. So “self-publication” has become common. Some of our greatest documents were published by their authors. They include Tom Paine's Common Sense, as well as works by (among numerous others) L. Frank Baum, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, e. e. cummings, Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Rudyard Kipling, Louis L'Amour, Rod McKuen, Edgar Allen Poe, Beatrix Potter, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Gertrude Stein and Walt Whitman.
So during the period of recorded history, publication by commercial publishers has been the exception rather than the rule. Many great works remained, for a long period, in manuscript form, either because printing was not available or because their value wasn't recognized.ix Still we judge an individual author not by what he has written but by what he has published commercially. That means that we are willing to accept the judgment of those who are more concerned about profits than quality. And since (commercially) published books and periodicals get the most publicity,x they get the most sales. So a “best-seller” list is usually comprised of commercially published books, and, while a self-published volume may be superior to those in the store, it is unusual for one to have many readers.
But printing companies still exist, and it isn't difficultxi to have a work published this way. And publication on the internet of an “e-book” is becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately those who self-publish are too often viewed as egocentric and talentless writers by a public taught to believe that commercial firms are the best evaluators of what is good and bad. What is even sadder is that too many authors accept this point of view. If they write for a living they are compelled to write for whatever audience they can find, although many will not compromise with commercial interests. They value what they have to say more than what they, or someone else, can earn from their thoughts. So self-publication is the only option if they wish to circulate those thoughts.xii And many of our most famous writers have chosen that route for some or all of their works.
That's what writing is. Its purpose is to record our thoughts. That's why it was developed, even if it has become something else – a way for commercial publishers to make a living. That can only be counted a necessary evil. Self-publication makes a work a “survivor”even if it is not a “victor.” It is a way that writing is remembered. Writing took a long time to come about and it would be a shame if we saw its only purpose as a way for someone to make a living. That makes sense, doesn't it?
Next episode: “Plausible Deniability” – That's not what I said. Nor is anything else.
i Or, at least, by the survivors. They're the ones who are around to tell the (a) story, and it's usually one that favors their point of view – even if they weren't always the victors.
iii Even if there is a recording in another form – the paintings on cave walls, for example – without writing the material is considered prehistoric.
iv Nowadays there are extensions of the written word such as sound recording, but the vast majority of information is in written form, even if it is on line or tweeted. And, as you'll see, the written word is the one of greatest interest to me.
v The Dispilio Tablet, a wooden tablet with some form of written markings on it, is carbon-14 dated at about 5,260 BCE.
vi Actually, printing companies were established to make money. With new technology come new opportunities to do so.
vii Howard Fast's Spartacus was rejected by several publishers during the McCarthy era because, as a former member of the Communist Party, he had been blacklisted. In fact, he was jailed for contempt of Congress because he refused to name donors to a home for Spanish Civil War orphans. He eventually published Spartacus himself, and later established the Blue Heron Press to publish his other writings.
viii Or a pound, or whatever.
ix Every now and then a story appears in the newspaper about an unpublished literary or musical work that was discovered in a library, or in a closet or drawer or box somewhere. It's usually the work of someone already famous. (Who would be interested in reading the unpublished work of a “nobody?” So when those are found they're usually discarded.)
x One of the functions of a publisher is to hawk his wares. After all, they make money by selling what they've published, so they do whatever they can to increase those sales.
xi It isn't inordinately expensive either.
xii Unfortunately not all thoughts are circulated, and this means that many great works have been lost and many more will be in the future. Self-publication at least gives a “commercially not viable” work the possibility of being seen and, perhaps, “discovered.”
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