The chapters of this volume were originally contributions pre- sented at a seminar entitled "The Written Code and Conceptions of Reality" held on the island of Sydkoster in August, 1985. The seminar was financed by a grant to the editor from The Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The word-processing of manuscripts was carried out by Chri- stine Aranda, Maria Axelson, Marianne Axelson and Lotta Strand, who carried the major burden. Their help in this project, as well as in many other common concerns, is deeply appreciated. The preparation of a book that is a collective enterprise is, in some respects, greatly facilitated by modern word-processing. When it comes to putting together the final product, however, the limita- tions of technologies are easily recognized as a result of the compli- cations that arise from the variation in systems used by con- tributors. Lotta Strand was responsible for the coordination neces- sary for completing the final version of the manuscript. Without her patient efforts and skills in this new type of literacy, word- processing technology would have been an obstacle rather than an asset.Excellent bibliographic assistance was provided by Christina Brage, Lennart Eriksson and Inger Karlsson of the library at the Departments of Theme Studies of the University Library of Lin- koping. Linguistic advice on the chapters written by contributors who were not wise enough to be born with English as their mother tongue was given by Alex de Courcy.