Booooooksss!
As compensation for my studious readings yesterday (and this morning, too) and because I felt a good introductory/overview type of book about Post-Modernism and/or Post-Colonialism would be useful, I decided to go to Waterstone's after lunch. To get the facts straight immediately: I did get a good and cheap "Introducing: Post-modernism" from Icon Books, which - despite the retro 80's lay-out - nicely and intelligably seems to cover the theory/theories I needed. But, while looking for my book I noticed that apparently Waterstone's is having a promotion of the Routledge Classics series and there were loads of them, all with nice orange "£2 off" stickers. All of a sudden I felt like one of those crazed women at the door at the opening of the Harrod's sale (yes, shopping is a very gendered activity, and I won't be PC about it: I'm a white male after all! Muhahaha, the power!! (metacommentary: introducing: postmodern ironic (meta-)commentaries))))) Why, you ask, this sudden possession? This series, I read somewhere and I agree, is of similar importance for our/my generation as the Penguin Paperbacks/Classics (with those orange back-covers) for my parents's generation, they've got all those luvly, luvly books that you really, really want and they're cheap.. So, along with my post-modern book I bought today the Brothers Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (all 210 of them), founding fathers of the ethnographic/folk-lorist story-collectors, and it has a scientific/historic introduction and afterword. I guess I will just have to come back to buy Hans Christian Andersen's Stories and Tales (with 19th C. illustrations). I've always wanted these books, but not in some dumbed-down children's version; I wanted the real thing! And here it is. Hallelujah!
"The Faries in Tradition and Literature" by Katherine Briggs, Marc Ferro's "The Use and Abuse of History". Midgley's "Evolutionism as Religion", and quite a couple more: Foucault, Adorno, Malinowksi, Durkheim, all these people that I definitely should read at some point.. All about 7 or 8 pound. Aargghh... This summer I will return home with quite a lot more books than I arrived with.
What is the value of books? When walking back just now I was comparing them with Hawaiian Mana: a power residing in particular objects (e.g. a royal feather cloak, a gun, the bones of James Cook etc.), but then, here in Europe there are only certain ritual specialists (known as intellectuals) that are capable of recognising the power of certain of these so-called books: for instance, they will know the tremendous power (controversial and otherwise) associated with Edward Said's "Orientalism", and the possession of such a book will be one of several marks that can denote the owner as a fellow ritual specialist. Note that mere possession can't be enough, you need to be able to say something more about it than "I really like the picture on front of that naked girl dancing with a snake". Such remarks can immediately disqualify the owner as a proper ritual specialist. Unless he's clearly using (postmodern) irony.
Some people say it's crap, all that talk about (P/p)ost-(m/M)odernism(s).
As compensation for my studious readings yesterday (and this morning, too) and because I felt a good introductory/overview type of book about Post-Modernism and/or Post-Colonialism would be useful, I decided to go to Waterstone's after lunch. To get the facts straight immediately: I did get a good and cheap "Introducing: Post-modernism" from Icon Books, which - despite the retro 80's lay-out - nicely and intelligably seems to cover the theory/theories I needed. But, while looking for my book I noticed that apparently Waterstone's is having a promotion of the Routledge Classics series and there were loads of them, all with nice orange "£2 off" stickers. All of a sudden I felt like one of those crazed women at the door at the opening of the Harrod's sale (yes, shopping is a very gendered activity, and I won't be PC about it: I'm a white male after all! Muhahaha, the power!! (metacommentary: introducing: postmodern ironic (meta-)commentaries))))) Why, you ask, this sudden possession? This series, I read somewhere and I agree, is of similar importance for our/my generation as the Penguin Paperbacks/Classics (with those orange back-covers) for my parents's generation, they've got all those luvly, luvly books that you really, really want and they're cheap.. So, along with my post-modern book I bought today the Brothers Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (all 210 of them), founding fathers of the ethnographic/folk-lorist story-collectors, and it has a scientific/historic introduction and afterword. I guess I will just have to come back to buy Hans Christian Andersen's Stories and Tales (with 19th C. illustrations). I've always wanted these books, but not in some dumbed-down children's version; I wanted the real thing! And here it is. Hallelujah!
"The Faries in Tradition and Literature" by Katherine Briggs, Marc Ferro's "The Use and Abuse of History". Midgley's "Evolutionism as Religion", and quite a couple more: Foucault, Adorno, Malinowksi, Durkheim, all these people that I definitely should read at some point.. All about 7 or 8 pound. Aargghh... This summer I will return home with quite a lot more books than I arrived with.
What is the value of books? When walking back just now I was comparing them with Hawaiian Mana: a power residing in particular objects (e.g. a royal feather cloak, a gun, the bones of James Cook etc.), but then, here in Europe there are only certain ritual specialists (known as intellectuals) that are capable of recognising the power of certain of these so-called books: for instance, they will know the tremendous power (controversial and otherwise) associated with Edward Said's "Orientalism", and the possession of such a book will be one of several marks that can denote the owner as a fellow ritual specialist. Note that mere possession can't be enough, you need to be able to say something more about it than "I really like the picture on front of that naked girl dancing with a snake". Such remarks can immediately disqualify the owner as a proper ritual specialist. Unless he's clearly using (postmodern) irony.
Some people say it's crap, all that talk about (P/p)ost-(m/M)odernism(s).
posted by Isalicus at 16:11
2 Comments:
Ha die Qui est-ceion Mark!
This post I hadn't read yet.
You're right about books and Routledge etc. etc.
But, talking about classics, and about the genderedness of your activity of (book) shopping (and about pomo irony...): how about Spivak, De Beauvoir, Butler, Adler, Kristeva?!
Wohahaha!
You better come over towards the end of February! AND there's the realreal thing: Grimm im Deutsch! (though I'm afraid Andersen in Danish at the moment is a bridge too far for me. Maybe something for O.)
Last thing: read Bourdieu? Not only would having read Bourdieu (apparently) classify you as a ritual specialist; it would constitute a valuable element of your cultural cpaital! In other words: I get the strong impression that different acad. disciplines (anthropy, sociogy) 'invent the same wheel' over and over again. While I've been learning about capital, you've apparently been learning about ritual. Good some communication between the two is hereby being established!
Very last thing: come to hear Shakespeare!
Bookshopping during sale in London was my nearest woman-experience in a long long time. Isn't it great ?
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