Parnassus in Cyberspace
Over the past few days I've been reading a couple of Christopher Morley's early novels--Parnassus on Wheels (1915) and its sequel, The Haunted Bookshop (1919). Very pleasant reading, and evocative of an older and slower-paced way of life--particularly the book-lover's life.
And yet, not without relevance to Library 2.0.
Parnassus on Wheels introduces us to Roger Mifflin, "the Professor," who is a secondhand bookseller of an unusual sort--his store is a horse-drawn caravan in which he lives as he travels around the Northeast selling books in small towns and on farms. The Professor has a philosophy about books--he believes they are a kind of medicine for the soul and the intellect, and that a book that is right for one person may be useless or worse for another. (Shades of Ranganathan's Second and Third Laws of Library Science: Every reader his book, Every book its reader.) He also believes that the people who need good books the most--and, he adds in The Haunted Bookshop, appreciate them best--are not well-off and well-educated urban types, but people with less formal learning, and especially people in farms and villages. Hence Parnassus on Wheels--the name of his rolling store, as well as the novel.
In other words: going where the users are--not waiting for them to come to us.
posted by RAStewart at
10:40 AM
3 Comments:
I agree with the comment that books are a medicine for the soul. Reading them can be therapeutic and uplifting, and in some cases so can writing them. I wrote "Outcasts Of Skagaray" at a time when I'd been shockingly depressed. It said what I wanted and needed to say about proper care for abandoned children and for those who live by conscience instead of ruthless Social Darwinism. If you ever read it I would really like to hear what you think. For a preview, go to www.threeswans.com.au and see the sample chapters. Whether you read it or not I'm glad I found your blog and read the posts. Best wishes.
Andrew, thanks for your response. I will take a look at the sample chapters. It's very true that writing too can be a healing as well as a challenging experience.
What amazes me about books is that sometimes I will read a passage that speaks volumes to my heart and/or soul. I will stop, for I can't go on, and feel the full emotion. And yet, years later when I find the very same passage, I remember how i felt but the words now seem to have lost their energy. They have the same power as all the other words around them. They are no longer words meant specially for me.
As your early bookmobiler believed, when the heart is ready, the teacher will come. Sometimes the teacher is in the letters written on a page in a book.
Thank you ra and andrew for giving me some food for thought.
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