The sociolinguistic concept of ‘community’ has undergone profound changes since it was first introduced in the middle of the twentieth century. Originally conceived to describe groups of individuals and families with shared traditions and a long history of living and working closely together (think of a village or an urban neighbourhood), the concept has now expanded to include a variety of ways in which people can connect with each other: attachments which are often longdistance, transitory, mobile, multiple. As we shall see, developments in sociolinguistic ideas about community to some extent parallel perceived changes in the real world, given the quickening pace of globalisation, the shake-up of traditional structures and sources of authority, the greater possibility for mobility, and people’s increasing ability to use digital communications to establish networks beyond their immediate vicinity. If we look at how …

In Aramis, or The Love of Technology, Bruno Latour renders clear much of what has been traced throughout the work. Latour continues, describing how the iterability of signatures lends permanence to the players, but "That will never be enough, for signed documents can turn back into scraps of paper". Similarly while patents appear to stabilise the identity of the technology itself, an identity that is now "a plan protected by law", they say nothing of what the technology is to become, suggesting the potential transformations through its use and re-use, and the "innovation" and collaboration of its users. A signature on a contract, an endorsement, an agreement stabilizes the relative size of the actors by lending to the provisional definition of alliances the assistance of the law, a law whose weight is enormous because it is entirely formal and because it applies equally to everyone.

Research Article| September 01 1993 The Last European: Erich Auerbach as Precursor in the History of Cultural Criticism Michael Holquist Michael Holquist Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Modern Language Quarterly (1993) 54 (3): 371–391. https://doi.org/10.1215/00267929-54-3-371 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Michael Holquist; The Last European: Erich Auerbach as Precursor in the History of Cultural Criticism. Modern Language Quarterly 1 September 1993; 54 (3): 371–391. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00267929-54-3-371 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsModern Language Quarterly Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 1993 by Duke University Press1993 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.