Bagić, Krešimir.
(2018).
Cryptogram – a Very Short Introduction.
Croatica: časopis za hrvatski jezik, književnost i kulturu, 42(62).
pp. 343-364.
ISSN 1849-1111
Abstract
The term cryptography stands for a scientific discipline that studies the techniques of
encrypting and dispatching secret messages as well as the artistry of encrypting itself.
Cryptogram is a message which has been encrypted in a secret type of script, a code only
its addresser and addressee share. The first part of the paper sums up the history of secret
communication by retracing its manifestations from the 7th century BC until present day.
Some of these practices include: steganography (hiding the message), transposition and
substitution cryptograms (devised by classical cryptography) and the asymmetrical RSA
cryptosystem (which marks the beginning of modern cryptography). The second part of
the paper focuses on the roles cryptogram plays in different cultural practices, primarily
in enigmatography and literature. In these cases cryptogram does not seek to establish
secret communication but motivates aesthetic and ludic enjoyment as well as the appeal of
a quest. Finally, the paper defines cryptogram in literature as a figure of speech (writing)
which explicitly signifies crypticness as an important quality of literary communication.
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