Lowercase and uppercase
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, December 12, 2025
In the past it happened to me to write with the capital letter a word to which I wanted to give a special importance or meaning. Now I know I was wrong. It is well to see everything in lowercase; the uppercase prevents one from seeing. And from understanding, almost as if once priority or importance have been emphasised, understanding were no longer necessary. More in general, if something — even the word god, or, worse, the word state — needs the capital letter, it means one does not believe enough in its primacy. As the Greek poet Kikì Dimoulà has beautifully written: “If the rain falls in uppercase / I look at it; if it falls in lowercase / I love it”. In lowercase we see, in lowercase we live, and, if god and the state won’t impose it upon us, without uppercase letters we will leave the small letter lovely earth.
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, December 12, 2025
In the past it happened to me to write with the capital letter a word to which I wanted to give a special importance or meaning. Now I know I was wrong. It is well to see everything in lowercase; the uppercase prevents one from seeing. And from understanding, almost as if once priority or importance have been emphasised, understanding were no longer necessary. More in general, if something — even the word god, or, worse, the word state — needs the capital letter, it means one does not believe enough in its primacy. As the Greek poet Kikì Dimoulà has beautifully written: “If the rain falls in uppercase / I look at it; if it falls in lowercase / I love it”. In lowercase we see, in lowercase we live, and, if god and the state won’t impose it upon us, without uppercase letters we will leave the small letter lovely earth.
(English translation by I, Robot)
Lorna Simpson, Untitled (Upper Case and Lower Case Wigs), 1994. Courtesy of WikiArt. |
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