Glog on Gutenberg 1

From this book, I understand that Sven Birkerts, the author, is having an issue pertaining to whether or not technology has ruined books. Some instances he believes that the new is better than the old. On page twenty six for instance, he says, “I am in the position of the adult who is asked if he would return once and for all to his childhood. The answer is yes and no.”(Birkerts, 26) This quote explains how he is a grown man now and someone asks him if he would like to be in the age of his childhood again. He answers yes and no, meaning he likes some parts of his present and some parts of his past. He goes on with this fight inside of his head on page twenty seven, by listing the advantages and disadvantages of electronics being a part of life.

One good thing about today’s technology is that books can be posted on technology so more people have access to them. For instance, if there was a classic that you wanted to read, it is most likely posted on the internet somewhere. Also, in today’s technological age, there is still the possibility that classics can be written. The stories written today might be better for the present because more students can relate to them. What if the story about to be discussed was just too outdated for the class and it was not that the children could not understand books because of the technology?

I think, on page seventeen and eighteen, it proves Birkerts point of technology destroying literary culture. In the past, when he was in school and such, students liked to read Henry James’s “Brooksmith”. When he taught the class, there were one or two students that liked the book. The rest of the students did not like it, because as the one student uttered, “the whole thing just bugged me-I couldn’t get into it.” I think that when students today are taught to read, we are taught to imagine the story and relate to it. Today, students like books that they can relate to more than the ones they cannot.

I wonder about Birkerts’ daughter. On page thirty, he says, “I let the rivers of popular culture (the less polluted ones) flow freely around my daughter. But at the same time I do everything I can to introduce her to books and stories.” (Birkerts, 30) In this outtake, it seems like he is a very controlling parent. He would have to make sure only certain things were introduced to his daughter. It seems as if he would like to control the books and stories that she reads. As by his sarcasm in the next outtake, he does not like the story Beauty and the Beast, but yet would like her to read. If she is reading Beauty and the Beast at least she is reading. It is better than nothing. Right Birkerts? “The child needs to know the range of pleasures. There is room for Beauty and the Beast, a la Disney, but only when the field includes the best that has been imagined and written through the ages.” (Birkerts, 31) It sounds like Birkerts would like her to read only the classics, but what child wants to grow up on Shakespeare and all the old complicated stories, that Birkerts’ college class he taught could not even understand.

            In the end of this first chapter, it makes me think. I want to know what the author would think of his story today. Presently, in the world today, there are more people that know how to read than in Birkerts time. If you put this story in the scheme of the whole world, and not just America, there are still a lot of people without technology.

            I also think that the people, who really enjoy reading, will still understand and like all of the classics. I think it is the people who do not read more, and maybe do use technology more, that cannot understand the classics as well as Birkerts would like us to.

So I really do wonder, would Birkerts be proud of his book?

Did he really keep his daughter out of the mainstream of technology throughout her life? If so, what happened when she wanted to get a facebook or MySpace? Or was given an email account by her college to keep up on?

I wonder what he would think of MySpace, facebook, and email being so common these days.

When his daughter was a teenager, did he let her read the current books, or just the classics?

Is it so bad that his daughter really likes Beauty and the Beast? Would it be that bad if she liked technology more than books?

Was he married? Did he control what books his wife read? Did he let her buy technology if she wanted it? Did they divorce because of the control Birkerts seems to want?

What is just so bad about reading a book on the computer?

What is so bad about Disney? Every little girl loves Disney, whether 1 or 100, which would include his generation and before.

How far back does he think technology has corrupted literary culture?

Does he think that being lazy has anything to do with it?

Did the college students he taught, partly, not understand or like the book because of the way he wrote the book?

Lastly, I really wonder what would make him happy. What would our culture have to do to be “okay” to Birkerts?

At the end of the first chapter, I think you could start a discussion board about these topics. There is so much that contradicts itself, yet so much that has support on the side that technology has ruined literary culture. So, in reality, has it really ruined our literary culture? The answer to that very question, will never be known, but would have a very interesting answer.

 

 

 

Tags: Birkerts, Gutenberg