March 22

Housekeeping

Next week: please bring your Zine proposal and a sample page (does not need to be on the bound sheets)

Chapter 3: The Book as Idea

“A book is a sequence of spaces.Each of these spaces is perceived at a different moment-a book is also a sequence of moments.” (148)

At what moment does a book become overwhelming and content is overshadowed by materiality or vice versa ?

“You have to get right into it ,as you do with any book ,and you must become involved and experience it yourself….what you bring to it is the biggest ingredient,far more important than what is there (153)

When is an interpretation taken too far?

“Similar complaints arise with new technology—will video games , the computer… or lastest media consumption technology signal death of books .That question isn’t interesting though as the question of how each of these technologies has been an will continue being part of book’s development.”(158)

What other forms of art or media can books integrate with ?

“My definition of a book grew until I realized,there can be none.To define anything limits it to your past resolutions with no room to expand .”(170)

How has your definition of a book changed thus far if it hasn’t?

“All that remains of the work which has been lost like most of Duchamp’s original readymades ,is Suzanne’s painting of it — a book that can truly never be read.”(185)

When is a book unreadable if ever ?

“Because we can’t read a book object or book sculpture we see the idea of the book a metaphor that has penetrated our culture so deeply it inform the language we used to describe ourselves.”(193) (examples on 193 and194)

What are other idioms or phrases that use books or the idea of it , that are quite literal in its meaning or not ?

“Our contemporary concerns over the death of the book are as bound up in fear of the death of the author or loss of our intellectual heritage which books symbolize .”(188)

The death of readers ,when will this become a thing if not why?

Additional Readings / Sources

Kaufman, M. (1983). The Book as Art and Idea. Art Education, 36(3), 40–46. https://doi.org/10.2307/3192701

W. (2022, February 6). 47 Common Book Idioms & Phrases (Meaning & Examples). https://englishbyday.com/book-idioms/

“ Do We Still Need Libraries” https://youtu.be/2zfhvDhnA5U

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