Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)
(09-15-2020, 01:28 AM)davidd Wrote: Ghoulia looks elegant and aloof here. Is she representative of the snobby superiority of "book culture"?

Do the majority of "book culture" people act snobby and superior?

Or am I thinking of #bookstagram people on Instagram? Which seems to be mostly about posting carefully designed book photos accompanied by self-deprecating captions with the not-so-veiled opposite meaning that "I am far more sophisticated and stylish than you could ever hope to be?"

What is "book culture"? A Google search for the term brings up three pages of nothing but stories about a pretentious New York City bookstore chain and some of their locations closing after not paying rent.

Anyway, Ghouls looks very Book Culture-ish to me.

Nice lighting. Intriguing photo... hence my lengthy rambling.

Aaaaah! My Czengrish betrayed me! To be honest, I just used English words for the Czech term without thinking. Sorries!

....Aaaaaand I haven't found a proper translation Whacked

Book culture ("knižní kultura") in Czech is a term that takes everything that pertains to, well, books - from the earliest forms of writing to literature, books as physical objects, libraries, printing techniques; anything that has something to do with books - and views it as one complex phenomenon, with its history and current trends, its impact on society, and so on, and so forth. Because all these things influence each other, and learning about it and then seeing it all change all the other things we as humans do is infinitely fascinating!

For example, ancient Slavic tradition was strictly oral, so it's lost forever (because the records written by christian monks several centuries after these traditions were lost aren't entirely accurate), or at least until we invent time-travel without dislocating our brains and stomachs in the process. I hate my ancestors' stupid life choices! Luckily, not all humanity did that, and many writing systems were invented. First, we were limited to solid things to inscribe our writings into, mostly stone, and that meant we had to be picky with what we want to write down.

Then we invented new materials, namely paper, so we could wrtie down more things and in much easier ways, and we were also coming up with ways to store all these materials covered with writing in safer and well arranged froms - books. Then we invented libraries to keep them even more safe and gathered conveniently in one place. But it still could be lost quite easily, because there was only one of each book, or only very few copies, so all it took was one fire (eventhough The Great Library of Alexandria didn't actually completely perish in that one fire, there were several started by unrelated people, but yeah, J.C's whoopsie bonfire was the worst one) and it was gone forever.

Then came the press print, and we could have many copies for cheap, so we could preserve even more art and knowledge and gradually make it accessible to pretty much everyone, and we eventually got to a point where we don't just store knowledge and art, but also romantic dramas with toxic relationships and harmful behavior being presented as not only acceptable, but downright desirable (fifty shades or twilight? who knows...), and that's actually a great thing! Sure it may lead to some bad 'literature', but that's not a bad price for having an option to keep people's ideas of all kinds so that these ideas (and, in a way, we) are not completely lost for the people who'll come long after us (stupid ancestors! would it be that hard to leave us a note or two?!)

And there are so many other aspects of this whole book culture thingie to be discussed, but this is already getting too long!

And every time we came up with an improvement to the process of getting our thoughts out of our heads and giving them a lasting and accessible form, more people got access to education. More people started thinking and feeling the need to get their thoughts out of their heads and invented even better, more durable and more accessible forms. And then even more people got access to education, and for once, the circle wasn't vicious, but blessed! Too bad that there are other things than book culture, like political movements, that use the same routes to indoctrinate people instead of educating them, and prevent them from thinking for themselves instead of encouraging them. But that's a topic for another day.

So basically, knižní kultura (how does English not have a word for this, there must be one, I shall hunt for it some more) is a field that studies what is written down how on what made how and of what materials, how it is multiplied and distributed, how and where it's stored and how does it all impact what we are and how we do stuff.

...OK, I did that on purpose... Did I break some sort of record for most whats and hows in one anacoluthon? I hope so...

Ahem. ...that studies how books, from what is written in them to how they're made and how we can access them, developed and changed with time and how they influence many, if not all, aspects of humanity's existence.

As for Ghoulia, I was going for smart, not snobby, I'll have to try harder next time.

While book culture doesn't mean instasnobs, they are a small part of it, demonstrating one particular type of impact books have on human thinking. Books were always a great way to be a snob. With how ex!pensive and rare they used to be before press printing, they were perfect to show off one's wealth. There were quite a few medieval book collectors who never learned to read, they only had books to show that they can afford them, because they were heirs of this or that noble family. Nowadays, it's more about pretending to be smart, but I believe the core of book-snobship hasn't really changed. Whether it's showing off money, assumed prowess in any field the book in question covers, refined taste in art and literature, or being such a pro in your vocation that you have all the accessible literature bound in leather and displayed in your office (without ever really reading it), books cover it all! Literally! Teehee, I'm a funny one, ain't I?

So yeah, book culture. I love it.

Edit: UNHOLY CRAP THIS IS LONG!!!  I was typing it in 'quick reply', so I didn't realize I was babbling so much! My apologies!

Edit 2 to answer question davidd asked in his edit while I was typing my heart out LOL : I'd say that, considering the wall-o'-rant above, I'm both a student and a subject of book culture.

Edit #3 - ∞: Adding missing letters one by one to what without a doubt is the next Pulitzer Prize-winning essay about the importance of getting letters written down.
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RE: Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020) - by neon_jellyfish - 09-15-2020, 03:37 AM

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