Reading about personal libraries, and how their collectors’ felt such a strong emotional connection towards them made me reflect on my own. I own very few books that I consider to be “my” books, which made me feel like a very inadequate book lover. Nevertheless, one thing that Benjamin and I did see eye to was the fact that we have plenty of unread books in our own personal collections. The majority of my books are gifted to me as I rarely purchase books for myself. A good number of them are unread either because they are impressively bad so I could never bring myself to finish them, or they are the final book to a book series that I can never seem to want to let go of.
Regardless, I’ve never owned the books that I consider to have shaped me, which is why I couldn’t at first understand Benjamin. I borrowed those books from the library and read them several of times. I’ve found that reading the same story in different formats, editions, and even languages has changed the way I thought about them and interpreted them. At one point I was a little bit offended that Benjamin might think that I somehow did not have an intimate relationship with them. How could they not then “come alive in him”? But “it is he who lives in them”?
Then I reflected over how I was able to read these books without actually owning them and to no one’s surprise it was because of my city library. Just like some many of the readings we have read so far, I have really felt like the public library was mine–that I owned it when that isn’t the case. Maybe it’s because I have a somewhat different sense of ownership that I couldn’t agree with Benjamin?
After listening to class discussions and more internal reflection I’ve come to terms that Benjamin is not entirely wrong. The physical aspect of books could be important and valuable along with ideas and stories they contain. For instance, the very particular design of the codex was essential to the spread of Christianity, and glancing at books covers could help you spark ideas and thoughts about that book that could not be achieved by like just looking at a physical page of the book itself. In that way, these inanimate books could in a way also provide life.
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