Excerpts
From Illuminations by Walter Benjamin
I'm going to think really hard about this, thinks Walter.
Of the customary modes of aquisition, the one most appropriate to a collector would be the borrowing of a book with its attendant non-returning. The book borrower of real stature whom we envisage here proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures and by the deaf ear which he turns to all reminders of the everyday world of legality as by his failure to read these books. If my experience may serve as evidence, a man is more likely to return a borrowed book upon occasion than to read it. And the non-reading of books, you will object, should be characteristic of collectors? This is news to me, you may say. It is not news at all. Experts will bear me out when I say this is the oldest thing in the world.
Tags: walter benjamin
pr? If you’ve got a copy of this book, I’d like to borrow it.
pr? If you’ve got a copy of this book, I’d like to borrow it.
I am just giving them away.
I am just giving them away.
Perfect, what a fabulous piece of writing that is. Thanks.
Perfect, what a fabulous piece of writing that is. Thanks.
And not read it.
thanks for reading!
Benjamin’s book on Baudelaire is the best study out there of a writer and his function in society. His Arcades Project thing is pretty insane. I had an English prof who wrote a book on him and was good at breaking down his ideas and approach into an easy to understand way.
Benjamin’s book on Baudelaire is the best study out there of a writer and his function in society. His Arcades Project thing is pretty insane. I had an English prof who wrote a book on him and was good at breaking down his ideas and approach into an easy to understand way.
Anthony Burgess: “There’s no better reason for not reading a book than owning it.”
Anthony Burgess: “There’s no better reason for not reading a book than owning it.”