My output has been sparse so I will attempt to come up with something quickly to boost my April production. It is also the case that the weather remains dreary and I am not that interested in hockey.
National Library Week
"National Library Week begins on Sunday, and the timing couldn’t be better. This annual celebration used to feel quaint; now it sounds like an existential rallying cry."(Ron Charles)
I noticed that it was a week to celebrate libraries in the U.S. In Canada the month of October is dedicated to them and there are library days, weeks and months throughout this country. As you will know, I am a fan of libraries and books and I suggest we should all be paying more attention to both of them.
Banned Books and Censorship
One reason to do so is that libraries are under attack and librarians are being threatened. President Biden even mentioned the problem in his recent announcement about running again. Canadians should not be complacent as this headline indicates: "Libraries Are In the Political Crosshairs as They Fight Back Against U.S. Book Bans: Canadians Should Keep an Eye on Efforts to Remove Books From Libraries South of the Border," Nick Logan, CBC News, April 21, 2023. Another headline indicates the situation is the same in the U.K.: "Third of U.K. Librarians Asked to Censor or Remove Books, Research Reveals,"
The libraries and books are victims of the collateral damage inflicted by the culture wars. There have always been people who wanted to restrict what others read, but generally the focus was on sex and ideology whereas now the concern is mostly over books about gender and identity. Librarians, usually a liberal bunch, have been resisting, but one hopes they also protect the illiberal items on the shelves as well (even the Dr. Seuess books and the unedited Roald Dahl ones) and keep the other books which are now deemed noxious and continue ordering them.
There is even a Banned Books Week, during which the American Library Association calls attention to the censorship pressures. The ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom notes that censorship challenges are up nearly 40% over 2021.
"ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 book challenges reported in 2021. Of the record 2,571 unique titles targeted for censorship, the most challenged and reasons cited for censoring the books are listed below."
The censorship efforts extend beyond libraries and into schools. The chart above comes from this study: "Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools."
Library Appreciation
The importance of libraries to some patrons is noted by Ron Charles of the Washington Post, who wrote in this week's newsletter that a fundraiser has been established to dedicate a chair in the New York Public Library to Alfred Kazin who died 25 years ago. Kazin spent a lot of time in the room pictured above.
"In his 1978 memoir “New York Jew,” Alfred Kazin recalled his early enthusiasm for the New York Public Library:
“Whenever I was free to read, the great Library seemed free to receive me,” he wrote. “There was something about the vibrating empty rooms early in the morning — light falling through the great tall windows, the sun burning the smooth tops of the golden tables as if they had been freshly painted — that made me restless with the need to grab up every book, press into every single mind right there on the open shelves.”
The library was Kazin’s sanctuary and his laboratory. He started publishing book reviews when he was 19. Before he was 30, he’d written “On Native Grounds,” an instant classic of literary criticism."
You may recall that another Jewish writer close by in New Jersey spent a lot of time in the Newark Public Library and donated his library to it and a space was dedicated for a room for Philip Roth (see: Actual Libraries.)
Books: Real or Fake?
That is Lord Black of Crossharbour who is once again a Canadian citizen and the picture was in Canadian papers today. It is here because he appears surrounded by books. Even if you do not like Conrad Black, you would likely agree that he has read a few and perhaps that may be one reason you do not like him.
Also in another article where books are featured in another paper, you will learn that some things are not always as they appear. The picture below is from: "Go Ahead, Judge This Book By Its Cover: Already the Norm For Film Sets and Commercial Spaces, Fake Books Are Becoming Common Fixtures in Homes, But if You See One, You Might Never Know," Anna Kodé, New York Times, April 28, 2023. About this phenomena I have already written. See, "Books By The Meter."
Real Books and Book Lovers
As I have complained, university libraries are getting rid of books right and left and even those in the middle. Spaces are needed for lounging for the students and for the children of graduate students. Sometimes, however, some people have difficulty in throwing out the third copy of a book in their home library unless threatened by their partner who they accuse of being a philistine. The following passage is perfect for those who do not have fake books, but real ones and know how difficult it is to toss them:
"F. Scott Fitzgerald declared in an excellent late story that ‘the second half of life is a long process of getting rid of things’. It is certainly what I am striving to do. I have far too much stuff so I’ve decided a little culling is needed. Some weeding out imperative, deaccessions inevitable. I’ve started with books; I’ll end up with people and finish with me.
I kneel on the floor of my book room with a large cardboard box at my side. Do I really need all those George Meredith novels? Edgar Saltus is harder, but will I miss those duplicates of Purple and Fine Women and The Pace That Kills with the variant dust-wrapper and the misprint on page 43? My shelf of the works of Philip Thicknesse, that querulous 18th-century gentleman, contains nearly all of his 24 books, and if I were forced to sell them I could never sacrifice The Valetudinarians Bath Guide, which contains valuable information on the exorcism of gallstones, and an account of Mrs Mary Toft of Godalming who claimed that she gave birth to 15 rabbits; an assertion Thicknesse plausibly supports. Whatever the demands for space in my book room, I cannot banish my Marmaduke Pickthall, or a single one of my 15 copies of the first edition of The Wooing of Jezebel Pettyfer, which Meredith praised with the mysterious disclaimer: ‘It ought never to have been written.’ Not seldom, when I surrender a book to a rascally dealer, I return to his shop and buy it back."
(That bit is dedicated to my friend on Vancouver Island who has written some books and collected many more. It is from an article in The Spectator, Dec. 17, 2022 by Barry Humphries.)
Post Script:
As I have noted too many times before, I think it is a mistake for university libraries to sacrifice the stacks for the students. The university libraries where I used to work are doing so. I do have to confess, however, that they had a copy of, Dr. Viper: The Querulous Life of Philip Thicknesse, In my defence, it is in storage, so as to make room for the students, or the toddlers of the graduate students, who will never be aware of its existence. I do also have to confess that although they did not have a copy of The Valetudinarians Bath Guide, it does appear in their catalogue and I (even you) can read it from the comfort of your couch (and right now!)
The Bonus:
For the few remaining book lovers in London, I will save you time by telling you that I already have out of the library the copy of Dr. Viper. Those of you who are now looking for Purple and Fine Women are on your own, as are those of you who now are asking - "Who the hell is Edgar Saltus?" (But, I do have to be honest and make another confession - there are a couple of biographies of Saltus in the Western Libraries (in storage.) Let's hope they keep them there and do not send them to a storage bin near Toronto.)
No comments:
Post a Comment