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Originally Posted by demonrail666
'Trophies', 'medals', maybe, but that isn't how I relate to the books I keep.
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Severian does though (or so he thinks for the moment, anyway). And so do a lot of people. Like diplomas on the wall.
I agree that's not everyone though. That hasn't been me actually, ha ha ha-- I've only used that position as a rhetorical facilitator, rather than getting lost in the complexities of those relationships. More about that below.
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
I don't congratulate myself for reading Blood Brothers, I congratulate Richard Price for writing it. But why I need to physically own that book in order to do so, that's what I'm not sure about. Maybe it is a fetish object, but a fetish for what?
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for friendship, man. those books, those authors, are/have been our friends. so we carry them around just like some people paper their refrigerators with photos of friends and family. to cherish, to remember, to comfort, to continue some conversations in our minds.
i think it does happen especially with hermit types (hello). i often prefer characters to real people. and authors are my friends. so for example when garcía márquez finally died i felt a real sense of loss. i suppose it's like masses of people felt when michael jackson the singer died. although i suppose some did also when michael jackson the beer writer died.
and it's not just the text. it's the physical object. for example, when i think of love in the times of cholera i think of the fat paperback with the bright yellow covers that i read on a fishing boat between bouts of vomiting and brutal work.
but one can only handle so many friends.
for example, cortázar (whom i mentioned the other day in relation to godard) drove me bananas when i was 20, i read everything he ever wrote, even the crappy stuff. but today? he just doesn't do anything for me. i'm grateful for all the fish but i'm through with his planet. i don't know why i would pay for the space to keep his books anymore. space comes at a cost (rent/mortgage, furniture, etc).
and so instead of being just a group of friends, our collections fatten up through wishlists and cemeteries for failed or lost connections. and they become a mess and an obtrusive monument to nostalgia-- that mental disease that keeps us alienated from the present.
of course there are the professional shelves too, but those are another story. had i continued working in literature professionally (cranking out papers and attending conferences and teaching) i probably would have a number of go-to books i'd have to use for frequent consultation, just like a mechanic has his jacks and wrenches and cans of grease.
many years ago i practically lived at the library of congress because i could find *anything* there. but today? the library is everywhere. click-click-click.