Had Isaac Bashevis Singer (by the way, a great vegetarian and defender of animal rights) grown up with the far fewer bookstores we have today, would he have become the literary person he did? Books to him were heaven:
I remember the money in my pocket and decide to go to Tward Street to buy myself a storybook. . . . Each title pulls me like a magnet. Each booklet has its own mystery, cleverness, and bizarre intrigues. But I can’t buy them all. I have to choose. I spend my last kopeck and carry home a stack of books. The street and the boys on it no longer concern me at all. I have only one wish: that my joy not be interrupted, that I have the time to read everything from beginning to end.
(Quoted from page 77 of Book Row: An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade, by Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004.)
For a brief biography of Isaac Bashevis Singer, click here. For images of or relating to Isaac Bashevis Singer, click here.
The Friend You've Been Waiting For
- The friend you've been waiting for has also been waiting for you. Meet each other at your local animal shelter.
Who runs this blog?
- The Saunterer. That's me, H. Charles Romesburg, Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University. As part of my research I saunter through the writings of especially creative people, keeping an eye open for insightful ideas on subjects that are joined with great goodness and creativity. I will in this blog present ideas from the writings of more than three hundred of these creators: painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, rock climbers and more. Among the subjects that will be covered: How workers in most every vocation and avocation can work as artists do, creating use, beauty, or both, of rare note. How regularly experiencing wild nature makes us better creators. How it is that the more all forms of life come to be revered, the more creative society will be. For some of the other subjects that will be covered, click on cnr.usu.edu/romesburg
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October 28, 2011
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This quote is really interesting, but I find it more interesting that Bashevis says he can't buy all of the books. Isn't that the beauty of a library in modern times (and the advance of technology)? We have the ability to check out and read as many books as possible. Books that can teach us how to do things, books that can create a world other than our own, and books that fuel our imagination. Perhaps this is my inter-librarian speaking out... but books are a beautiful thing.
Posted by: Backcountrykatlin.blogspot.com | October 30, 2011 at 07:34 PM