Bibliographic Coding in BLAST

In Bornstein’s piece we learn that “the bibliographic code corresponds to the aura and, like it, points to the work’s ‘presence in time and space’”. He states that bibliographic code is found the page layout, book design, the typeface, and the boarder of the page.  Within a work’s bibliographic code a reader is able to see the “aura” of the piece.  In Wyndham Lewis’s BLAST No. 1 the bibliographic coding speaks loudly.  That is that when readers look at the magazine they can’t help but notice the bold, bright color of the cover, with the word BLAST clearing standing out.  Lewis is already drawing readers to his work before they even open the cover.

On page 59 the piece titled ENEMY OF THE STAIRS. has an interesting form of bibliographic coding.  The piece starts of in all capital letters and a little over half way down the page the text switches back regular capitalization and a smaller font.  He seems to be describing two different characters and is creating a higher level of importance for his first character by using all caps.  After reading about the first “manish” character, readers are less enthused by the “appalling gamin” character because of the way the description is laid out on the page. 

Bibliographic coding can completely transform the way that readers look at a certain work. By changing the text and capitalizing certain words readers are able to gain a sense of what the author thinks we should stress more importance on and in doing so get a greater read of the story.

Comments

I'm particularly interested by the second paragraph, where you start to read the different font usage for the two characters of Enemy of the Stars (not Stairs). Would love to read more about how you think the font usage for character names contributes to the development of those characters, or the meaning of the play.