Lyotard and Nasta'līq

Lyotard describes the effect of technology on language as a compartmentalization and filtering of data into smaller sound bites. A good example of this data degradation is the attempt to create a typewriter to write Persian scipt [Nasta'līq].

"Monotype's attempt to implement Nasta'līq for photo composer typesetting resulted in a repertoire of 20,000 different glyphs. ... Nastaleeq Typography first started with the attempts to develop a metallic type for the script but all such efforts failed. Fort William College developed a Nastaleeq Type but that was not close to Nastaleeq and hence never used other than by the college library to publish its own books. State of Hyderabad Dakan (now in India) also attempted to develop a Nastaleeq Typewriter but this attempt miserably failed and the file was closed with the phrase “Preparation of Nastaleeq on commercial basis is impossible”. Basically, in order to develop such a type, thousands of pieces are required."

Applications to Comparative Literature:

Between literary works of differing cultures, eras and disciplines it can be assumed that there is data loss in translation. For all of our efforts to harness the power of technology, there are certain aspects of our best translation software and linguistic machinery which will always tend towards the truncation of the speakers full meaning. The objective correlative is conveyed, crossing through this membranes of culture, time and specialty, by appealing to the lowest common denominators of human experience [i.e. suffering, beauty, relationship, spiritualty, creativity, etc.] Only when couched within this Trojan Horse of "common things" can the surprising and mystical element be delivered into the heart of the other. Certainly data loss is inevitable, but the question remains of whether or not the heart of the author remains intact within the skeletal remains of the text.

Mythopoeic

"Mythopoeic literature is literature that involves the creation of fictional myths. Notable mythopoeic authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and George MacDonald.
The term Mythopoeia (virtually Greek μυθο-ποιία "myth-making") was coined by Tolkien as a title of one of his poems [1], which was written as a reaction to Lewis' statement that myths were "lies breathed through silver". The poem takes a position opposed to rationalism and materialism, referring to the creative human author as "the little maker" wielding his "own small golden sceptre" ruling his Subcreation (understood as genuine Creation within God's primary Creation)"

"The Mythopoeic Society exists to promote mythopoeic literature, partly by way of the Mythopoeic Awards."