Wednesday, July 20, 2011

BOOKS WITHOUT BORDERS

I plan this title to be one for my next TV project for public access TV, if that institution should last long enough with all the cuts going on plus the cable companies desire and moves to 'rid itself of this burden' and 'expense'etc. More and more books are being moved off the shelves of stores and libraries, except for those which are for 'popular taste' and specific genre: romances, historical fiction, science fiction, horror/zombie/ampire/werewolf,etc. themes, action/war/spy thrillers and certain other types known as 'best-sellers' none of which are 'classics' in the usual sense...though some classics are revised, purged, edited down, and repackaged,especially after TV and movie productions right into DVDs...which may prompt a rare few to actually read the real book.... Electronic books may be accused for the demise of books and book stores but now will authors have to write and publish via electronic media(I guess most do already) and no longer view their books as 'works of art' or 'expressions of soul'? Is there any soul to found in electronic presentations of literature and information,etc.??? Colorless script may well be replaced with special graphics to titillate the senses....but the feel of paper will certainly suffer and those addicted to such will have to get their fix from fondling old editions from somewhere, secreted in attics or in closets so others will not see their dependence and addiction to printed word on paper.... The closing of major book chains may mean the rise of used and second-hand book stores and mail order enterprises.....but it seems to me that the choice of reading will be limited by the gadgets in the sense where will you browse for titles and books you want and how will you be attracted to such....? Where will the stimulus be to reach out and lift a book from the shelves of electronic storage just to thumb through the pages to see what you might like? I suspect that all our reading for the future will be controlled...that is, you will only be able to read and buy and look at what they transmit and nothing else, unless there is a huge archive somewhere in 'book heaven' the place where all great literature ends up(another dump or landfill in the sky) waiting for the Day.....The cheapness of electronic publishing that should manifest will be a sort of monopoly...no need for book companies to compete....but I like the freedom to dtermine what I shall read and not read and not some corporation focusing on profits per se based on opinion polls and surveys and profit margins, etc. Let me stay in my 'ivory' tower and read my books until the day I die and forget about electronic intrusions into my library which, incidentally, has more than some town libraries I've visited recently...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

WHAT GOOD IS ART?

WHAT GOOD IS ART? In an age when QUANTITY surpasses QUALITY-special arts and crafts, like printing, carving, book binding, rug making and numeous manual skills become superfilous adn works of art are cheaply made and cheaply reproduced(so the masses can ostensibly enjoy them better).... Where once books,in disregard of their content or subject, were (& still are) WORKS OF ART,especially those of ages past...these are no longer preserved except for the wealthy(collectors)..... Libraries have become warehouses where books are housed, recycled, shredded, etc. and reduced to mere cmmodities, usually of too little monetary value to keep on the shelves-DISPOSABLES like toilet paper.... LIBRARIES ARE NO LONGER REPOSITORIES OF KNOWLEDGE and hardly WISDOM but MERELY places of reduced information, mass produced for ELECTRONIC STORAGE which will not outlast the stone slabs or carvings of the Ancients......