Wednesday | 11 December 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Wednesday | 11 December 2024 | Epaper

Fragments of Reality

Book and Book Fair: Baconian perspective

Published : Thursday, 18 March, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 861
Dr Kanan Purkayastha
Francis Bacon was known as a Renaissance man. He was a philosopher, diplomat, member of parliament, occultist, writer and Lawyer. Bacon was well known as an essayist. He also developed the scientific method in his treatise Novum Organum (1620). He was very keen on libraries and developed a classification system using three categories-philosophy, history and poetry. Each category had several sub-categories. In this essay, I explore book and book fair in terms of methodical observation developed by Francis Bacon.

Baconian method is based upon observation of facts. The method, as explained in his book Novum Organum, consists of three main steps: first, a description of facts; second, a tabulation, or classification, of those facts into three categories--instances of the presence of the characteristic under investigation, instances of its absence, or instances of its presence in varying degrees; third, the rejection of whatever appears, not to be connected with the phenomenon under investigation and the determination of what is connected with it.

Bacon thought that we should remove all prejudices and preconceptions about something under observation or consideration. This is the case also when study a book. Bacon maintains that 'Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.' Bacon further added that 'some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.'  In his essay 'Of Studies' Bacon suggests that 'Reading make a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.'

On the one hand a book is a container of words, on the other hand book enjoys a duel life, a life shares by his writer and reader. When we use the Baconian approach in book reading, we think about book as an object. Its bearer belongs to a particular group of people in society, who might be a group of readers and it determine a reader's social position.

Book can give us a different reading experience. For example, I have a paperback hard back, digital and special leather bound copy of Darwin's 'Origin of Species'. Each of the copy gives me a different reading experience, which has both internal and external values such as money, time and emotional energy.

Like Philosopher Heidegger I think that book is like a hammer. When we use a hammer, we forget about hammer itself, rather we think more about hammering. This is the case for a book. When we use it, we seem to forget its own existence rather try to establish a relationship with its author. Marcel Proust thought that books are able to transport its readers from one place to another. Before doing so, a reader's body is colonised by the author of the book. It is like an insertion of self to another self.

When an author sees their book overused by different readers, they feel a joy. For example Richard Holmes, a biographer describes his thrill as: 'Nothing is so moving to the biographer as finding an old copy of his book in a stranger's hands, battered and wine-stained from its voyages, its margins scrawled, its poetry underlined, its pages bent with maps and postcards, its cover bleached with sun and sea.'

Milan Kundera wrote in his novel 'The Unbearable lightness of being' that 'books were the emblems of a secret brotherhood.' Kundera describes in his novel through a character how a book differentiate one from another, for example when a young woman walk down the street with a book under her arm, she will look different from others in the society.

Tim Mole, an author informed us that there are circumstances when we want to distance ourselves not from any particular books but from books in general. Goethe's novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' can depict such scenario. While Werther retreats to the country, his friend thinks that he might need some books for his amusement, but Werther has other plan for his rural retreat. He had enough books, so he said 'I have no wish to be directed, encouraged, fired up, any more.'

Book is an object to instigate reading, but reading itself is a cumulative activity. Because when we read, we not just spend time with a book, but also invest time in cultivating a more intellectual version of our self. A book fill our shelf, a book fill our knowledge and understanding about the world around us and accumulate many references.

In his research paper 'The book fair as a tournament of values' published in the Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, Brian Moeran suggests that a book fair demonstrate some values in relation to  global publishing industry; in particular its relation to the publishing cycle, chain, and field. Brian touches about the importance of the visibility of books, its location, importance of a book catalogue and above all social gatherings. Brian argued that ' the currency of copyright has significant parallels with a form of gift exchange and that, as a result, a book is both commodity and gift. It is in the shadow of the gift that the commodity of the book is produced, distributed, sold, and read.'

An example of longest book fair in the world is the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Bangladesh, which is taking place from March 18 to April 14 this year following health guidelines. The book fair began its journey on the Bangla Academy premises informally in 1972, and it became institutionalised in 1978. The fair was named Amar Ekushey Granthamela and a guideline for it was formulated in 1984. The book fair, which is traditionally held from February 1, has been delayed this year due to the on-going Covid-19 crisis.

In a book fair books are appeared in a public but they were born in private. So, in a book fair a book becomes a public object. This dignity books extent to its readers. It participates in a book signing events. In a book fair, books can shape the space. An open space suddenly becomes full of books in a fair. New books emit smell, which attract some readers. Not only smell, but also the name of the authors and the content of the book attract readers. Books form a complex ecosystem, where visitors spend their time. In addition to that, sometimes the sheer number of books and their disorganised state make things more difficult. In a big book fair such as Frankfurt and London book fair giving up books on the last day of the fair also attract visitors.

Above all, we can apply Francis Bacon's method to understand a book and our activities as a reader. A book fair can allow us to test our method of reading, our relationship with a book and how books respond to changes in technology. A book fair may allow a reader to explore what changes when books change. When a book has gone from being something physical to being something virtual-does our relationship with the books remain the same? Only time can tell the tale.
The writer is a UK based Academic, Chartered Scientist and Environmentalist, Columnist
and author




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