If "aphasia" is the inability to express speech, what is the inability to remember the alphabet? "
Alphasia?" Or perhaps "AphaZia?" This is my favorite description of losing one's alphabet:
Johnny spun to face a bookcase of art
criticism and wondered desperately if K came before or after N.
The alphabet, a pillar, a solace and a certainty since kindergarten,
had suddenly deserted him. He stood, bewildered and staring, as
if he’d suffered a crisis of faith. Does the alphabet
exist? If the alphabet exists, why is there so much suffering in
the world? The alphabet is dead.
—Cathleen Schine, The Love Letter
