The Melancholy of Unread Books: Exploring the Binomial of Books and Reading

Mexico City / 10/20/2023 01:34:50

In Too Many Books (Random House Mondadori, de Bolsillo, 2011) the writer Gabriel Zaid highlights the binomial of the book and reading: “Yes, there is something deeply melancholic about going to a library or bookstore full of books that we will never read.”

Gabriel Zaid (Monterrey, Nuevo León, 1934) talks about that reading competence, about the dilemma of reading everything that is at hand or the books that are bought just to buy, (those that remain on some shelf or bureau even with the cellophane wrapper).

Also to comply, as a good reader who is aware or updated of this or that book that is published as a result of fashions and the whims of marketing.

Likewise, it addresses the necessary duty of the critic to whom the authors turn to prepare refined reviews in the media. He even evokes the anecdote of the book as a gift or delivery—signed by hand—fate returns it to the dusty shelves of second-hand bookstores.

Over five centuries, says Zaid, it is estimated that humanity published a book every half minute. And yet, the author overwhelms us: “books are published at such a speed that they make us more uneducated every day.”

In The Too Many Books, the author digs into that categorical imperative to read and be cultured, we go on a journey through the publishing history of humanity: from before the creation of the printing press to days like today, the current ones.

Furthermore, he reflects on the prediction of the disappearance of the printed book due to the emergence of certain technology; for example, in the last century, it was radio and television that were supposed to put an end to the publication and demand for books. Today that premise lurks in the digital age, with the electronic book and the thousand and one possible tools for reading online.

Separate note, the monitoring of authors and the analysis and reflections they have on the books that Zaid makes.

“There is a mirror that has seen me for the last time. There is a door that I have closed until the end of the world […]”, wrote the most librarian of universal authors: Jorge Luis Borges.

Gabriel Zaid concludes by warning: “the measure of reading should not be the number of books read, but the state in which they leave us.”

2023-10-20 07:37:16
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