November 16, 2006 - 10:55 a.m.
I've just come from one of the most fantastic classes I've ever had.
In Materpieces of British Lit this morning, we were discussing Sidney's Defense of Poetry, which deals with Plato's argument that poetry is nothing but lies. And I do not agree, and neither does Sidney, so it was an interesting day.
But we got on the topic of book burnings, which is another thing I definitely do not agree with, but our brilliant teacher said something that caught my mind. He said isn't it interesting that art (in any form) still has that power today? That it can still move people to act in such powerful ways. I don't agree with the way book burners act, or condone it, but I find it interesting that a book provoked such strong reactions. Because I know it provokes other reactions as well.
Have I ever mentioned that I wouldn't be the person I am today without Harriet the Spy? I'm sure I have, I just can't remember at the moment. But it's true. It changed my world. It led pretty much directly to me wanting to write, and that's how I ended up at this school, majoring in creative writing and taking these amazing classes. And I am so grateful. I've been so lucky to be living a life filled with books.
There's these amazing books by Ann Downer, called The Spellkey Trilogy. In the last one, The Books of the Keepers, there's this bookseller and bookbinder called Bembo Gill (which I think is a great name) that lives in a house that's just crammed full of books. They're piled everywhere, like a hedge maze made of books. And I kind of envy that. I want my life to be that crammed full of books.
"Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries." - Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop.
