a) Steady, ready, read!
re-read ... the story of a successful idea
“I believe that the phrase ‘obligatory reading’ is a contradiction in terms; reading should not be obligatory. Should we ever speak of 'obligatory pleasure'? Pleasure is not obligatory, pleasure is something we seek. 'Obligatory happiness'! [...]
- I would advise them to read to continue to look for personal happiness, personal enjoyment. It is the only way to read.”
―
b) The History of reading by A. Manguel
Throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages, reading meant reading aloud; such reading was probably the most common form of ancient publication.
scripta manet, verba volat—
the written word remains stationary, the spoken word travels
curious fact:
the famous library of Alexandria was nurtured by a royal decree that required all ships stopping there to surrender any books they might be carrying on board. These books were then copied for the library's collections before being returned to their owners.
Explore these two sets of pics,
ORAL 2-
the board of Members of the La Kermesse Bages Festival
have to announce our event:
the joy of the written word
TASK. Your library wants to celebrate it
with some snapshots for a great poster
to encourage reading at diverse ages.
André Kertész's been a great artist in his field.
Delve into two comments on his work
comment 1.- One memorable image features a boy sitting in a New York doorway in 1944, amid a heap of newspapers left there to alleviate the wartime shortage
("Paper is needed now! Bring it at any time," reads the poster behind him).
Early 1950's were hard yet the boy looks perfectly elated: amid the detritus, he has found a page of comic strips. Heaven can wait....
comment 1.-
One of my favourite André Kertész snapshots depicts two young men sitting with their backs to a tree, each absorbed in a book.
- Both are wearing glasses;
- both use their thighs as a lectern;
- the one facing forwards is black, the other, in profile (a dead ringer for Woody Allen), is white.
- Their proximity suggests they know each other and are friends.
And given the time and place of the composition,
Washington Square, New York City, 1969.
the photo could serve as an icon of the civil rights movement – racial harmony!
What's equally striking, though, is how separate the two men are, how oblivious to each other's presence (and to the camera).
They might well be friends but their real companions are their books.
Kertész's subjects are often people you wouldn't expect to see reading. What the camera captures is their thirst for knowledge or hunger to escape their circumstances.
- The Bowery bum retrieving a newspaper from a wastebin;
- a woman kneeling over a text in a Manila market;
- gondoliers,
- circus performers and street vendors snatching time between work duties to peruse a book or magazine –
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