The Refined Reader (35) The YA Issue

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Old and new YA literature

The fact that adults also love to read young adult literature has been a big topic recently among bloggers and readers, usually fueled by weird people who feel the need to judge others for what they like to read.  But I was actually surprised to see just how long this topic has been discussed.  I work at a university and occasionally will look at research papers, and though I'm in science, I'll sometimes just look up papers related to literature for the fun of it.  And I happened to come across two articles from the 1980s that talked about the young adult novel.  After reading through them, it was interesting to see what the perspective was on YA lit just about 30 years ago, and I wanted to thoughtfully explore how our attitudes towards YA has either changed or remained the same in the intervening years.  And also to take a look at how the YA genre has changed.

The articles I read and will be referencing are from The English Journal and titled:

• Looking Backward: Trying to Find the Classic Young Adult Novel by Linda Bachelder, Patricia Kelly, Donald Kenney, and Robert Small (published Sep. 1980)
• Some of my Favorite Books Are By Young Adult Authors and Some Are by Jane Austen by Robert C. Small Jr.(published Apr. 1986)

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The Refined Reader (34) Fairy Tales & "Away to Whimsical Fairy Tale Land" Introduction

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

I'm pairing this Refined Reader post with an introduction to an event I'm co-hosting with Ana from Read Me Away that will celebrate fairy tales, so please keep reading for more information!

The history of the fairy tale is very murky.  It was largely an oral tradition so it's difficult to know just when it appeared in our consciousness.  The earliest instances of a fairy tale appear to be Aesop's tales from 6th century BC Greece and Chinese Taoist philosophers would discuss fairy tales in their ancient philosophical works.  In the 18th century there was a resurgence in popularity of these magical tales in Europe which led to a concerted effort to write them down which resulted in the collections of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault.

What is a fairy tale?  This was before the genre of fantasy was conceptualized, so they generally fit into that genre, although a fairy tale is differentiated from a legend in that it is known that a fairy tale is not possibly true.  There is also an inclusion of magic or enchantments in the story and the setting is in an earlier but unidentifiable time.  There are sometimes debates over what is a fairy tale, but it is much less confused now then it was before.  Before fantasy became a genre, many early fantasy tales were labeled 'fairy tales' such as The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit, and Animal Farm.

Continue reading →

The Refined Reader (33) The Mystery of Mary Rogers

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Recently I was listening to a Suspense radio episode that was based on an Edgar Allan Poe story titled The Mystery of Marie Roget.  While listening, it was mentioned that Poe's short story was based on the true mystery that revolved around the death of a beautiful young girl named Mary Rogers in 1841.  Apparently Poe's short story is the first instance of 'true crime fiction' which is why I thought it would be interesting to talk about it for The Refined Reader.

Mary Rogers lived in New York City in her mother's boarding house and worked as a cigar girl.  Her customers included famous authors like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper.  She was an extremely pretty girl according to the newspapers at the time (and the press went crazy for this story).  One day she told her fiance that she was going away to visit some relatives, but was found three days later floating dead in the Hudson River.  The police suspected gang violence, although a few months later a woman would 'confess' to having Mary Rogers' body dumped in the river after a botched abortion.  Apparently this confession was confused and not entirely accurate though.  The fiance, who was suspected in the press, would later commit suicide near where Mary's body was found.  There is no conclusive answer to who killed Mary Rogers.

A year later, Edgar Allan Poe would examine the mystery as the second case for his detective C. Auguste Dupin.  In the story, the killer is not named, but a conclusion on who the murderer was is drawn through logical deductions of all the facts (and possibly conjectures) that had been reported in the press.  The story does read as a very plausible solution, but unfortunately has not really been proved true.  It is interesting though that this story is probably the first example of detective fiction where the reasoning and deduction is explained step by step in the end as a sum-up.  Dupin is also commonly thought of as the first detective in fiction.

I found this story an intriguing instance of real life inspiring an innovative and unique genre which I hope was interesting to my blog readers as well!  The case of Mary Rogers was very well known at the time, but has become a more obscure story now.  It would be great if the podcast Serial would tell this story - I would love it if they tried to do a more historical piece!

Are there any true crime mysteries that really fascinate you?  Please share in the comments!

Sources:
Wikipedia
Smithsonian

The Refined Reader (32) The E-book

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Source

The idea of electronically reading books appears to have started with writer Bob Brown in 1930.  His idea came from seeing how silent movies have advanced by becoming 'talkies'.  Bob Brown called his idea the 'Readies' where books can be read in a much different way than even ebooks are read today.  His idea was to have words continuously scroll across and would have omitted superfluous words like articles and conjunctions.  It would have been more about getting the gist of the book in your mind than about recreating the reading experience electronically.

According to Wikipedia, the actual inventor of the ebook is a little unclear - it depends on the criteria one has for what constitutes an electronic book.  In the 1960s a researcher by the name of Andries van Dam, who formatted documents on an IBM computer is said to have coined the term electronic book.  But Michael Hart is popularly thought of as the inventor of the e-book for adapting the Declaration of Independence to an e-book in 1971.  Early e-books were at first mostly technical manuals to be read by people with specific interests, but when the internet came around sending e-books became easier and more useful to people.

E-books have only really taken off in the late 1990s.  It helped when a uniform format (Open eBook) was developed so that more machines could read e-books, instead of fragmenting the market with different formats.  In 1998 libraries began to offer e-books through their website.  The wonderfully archaic e-Reader pictured above (the Sony Data Discman) was released in 1992, although it's not the first e-Reader since there was a prototype portable reading unit called the Dynabook created in the 1970s.  Which would have been more akin to a laptop.  In 1997 the invention of electronic paper (which does away with the need for a backlit screen) helped usher in the more enduring kind of e-Reader, with the first e-paper reader, the Sony Librie, released in 2004.

E-books are very prevalent today - 50% of Americans own a device to read e-Books (e-Readers or tablets) so it's fascinating to see how much the industry has grown in just a few years.  The ideas have definitely advanced from the early conception of the Readies.  But it is intriguing just how much Bob Brown got right from just his concept -

Though we have advanced from Gutenberg's movable type through the linotype and monotype to photo-composing we still consult the book in its original archaic form as the only oracular means we know for carrying the word mystically to the eye. "A simple reading machine which I can carry or move around, attach to any old electric light plug and read hundred thousand word novels if I want to, and I want to." My machine is equipped with controls so the reading record can be turned back or shot ahead, a chapter reread or the happy ending anticipated.

-- Bob Brown, 1929

If you are an e-Reader, do you remember what you first thought of the format?  Were you against it before, but now love it?  What kind of e-Reader do you own now?

Source:
Wikipedia 
New York Times
Readies

The Refined Reader (31) The Case of the Vampire

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Last week I posted on the horror genre, and also asked about favorite supernatural creatures.  Mine is the vampire, and while reading up on horror fiction, I saw mention of two early documented cases that sparked vampire hysteria in Western Europe, which I found very interesting to read!  So I wanted to talk about it here.  Vampires - or blood-sucking entities have been around since ancient times - almost every culture has a legend concerning them, but our modern concept of a vampire comes almost exclusively from 18th Century Europe.

The first case concerns a Serbian peasant named Petar Blagojevich who died in 1725.  After he died, several people in his village died soon after, with nine deaths within eight days.  On their death-beds, the victims claimed to have been visited by Blagojevich at night.  The villagers demanded an investigation, and because Serbia at that time was part of the Austrian empire, Austrian officials and doctors looked into the matter which is why this is such a well documented case.  Although the investigators wanted to wait for permission from their superiors, the villagers did not want to wait so Blagojevich's body was exhumed and found to be in a state consistent to a 'vampire nature'.  The body was relatively undecomposed, there was hair and skin growth, as well as blood in the mouth.  The villagers staked Blagojevich and then burned the body.

The second case happened in another village in Serbia with a man called Arnold Paole.  When Paole first moved to the village, he claimed he had been attacked by a vampire, but cured himself by eating soil from the vampire's grave and smearing himself with the vampire's blood.  In 1725, Paole died from falling off a hay wagon and in the month that followed his death, four people claimed to have seen him, and all four died soon after.  The body was exhumed like with Blagojevich, and was found in the same state of seemingly abnormal decomposition.  Paole's body was staked - an apparently he groaned and bled from it, and the other four victims were also staked to prevent them from becoming vampires.

These cases were written about and spread throughout Europe, although officials and doctors maintained that vampires do not exist.  The Austrian Empress eventually passed laws against exhuming bodies and that led to the end of the vampire hysteria.  But the stories still persisted.  I should say that the state of decomposition described for these 'vampires' can happen realistically, and it's ignorance of that, that fed into the hysteria.

Do you have any favorite vampire stories?

Source:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia

The Refined Reader (30) Origins of the Horror Genre

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

The elements of horror in fiction has it roots deep in our past with folklore and humanity's concern with death and the afterlife.  Gothic literature played an important part in the evolution of horror as it's own literary genre, since modern novels were more based in realism until The Castle of Otranto (1764), the first modern novel to incorporate supernatural explanations.  When The Castle of Otranto was first published, it was marketed as a found medieval story so when it came out that it was in fact written contemporary, it was not critically received very well.  But it became very popular.

Horror literature incorporates many supernatural elements such as ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches and the occult, and creates emotional, psychological or physical fear within a reader, but in a controlled manner which can be exciting or a thrilling.  Our psychological interest in reading horror stories is an interesting point to explore and there's more of a philosophical discussion of it on the wikipedia page linked below.  There are some ideas that because we don't have to deal with fighting for survival on a daily basis like our ancestors did, horror stories supply that need for excitement or for an adrenaline rush.

Pioneers of the horror genre include Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker in it's earliest incarnations,  H.P. Lovecraft and his 'cosmic horror' (in his stories the insignificance of humanity is often a focal point).  Lovecraft could also be credited in creating the modern zombie tale, as well as Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend.  Stephen King is a highly influential modern horror writer, who helped make the genre extremely popular in our time.

Personally horror stories that feature overly gruesome details or graphic depictions of death are not appealing to me, but horror stories that deal with the supernatural and psychological horror is very interesting to me.  I usually like to read older horror novels since they are not as disturbing to me.  So I'm a little bit of a wuss. ;)

What are some of your favorite horror stories?  Do you have a favorite supernatural creature?

Source:
Wikipedia 

The Refined Reader (29) Book Plates

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

(Many thanks to Romi from Where the Reader Comes to Write for the idea of doing a post on book plates!  If anyone has any suggestions or questions about bookish history they would like to know the answer to, please let me know anytime, and I'll try to do a post on it!  I'll do the research, so you don't have to! :D)

The earliest known example of a book owner marking ownership of their book comes from around 1391 b.c. during the reign of Amenophis III of Egypt.  But marks of ownership evolved to printed papers denoting ownership which is what book plates have become today.   The need for them probably arose from how expensive and rare books were at the time, and how important it was to mark the owner of a particular book. The earliest example we have of a printed book plate dates from 1480, from a German monastery.  At this time, the designs were simple, but usually presented an armorial quality or some symbol or monogram that represented the owner.  It's believed that the practice of using book plates first spread from Germany.

The term Ex Libris (Latin for "from the books" or "from the books of") is often associated with book plates, and that term started to become widely used in 17th century France.  As book plates became more popular, they also became more ornate, and a rococo style of fanciful scrollwork which originated in France, became a predominant style.  In the 19th century however, styles were less rigid and encompassed many elements of previous styles such as heraldic and pictorial.

Book plates are not as widely used today, although I remember using them quite a bit as a child for my books.  Maybe my Mom was afraid I would lose my books!  But now,  I don't really like the idea of marking up my books with a pasted label or my name - it's part of my general aversion to writing in books.

Do you still use book plates or other ways to mark that a book belongs to you?

Source:
Wikipedia 
King's College Cambridge

The Refined Reader (28) Book Illustrations

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

1514 engraving by Albrecht Dürer

While there was a tradition of illustrated manuscripts going back into the beginning of the creation of books, book illustrations as we know them have their beginnings in the origins of European woodblock printing, and thrived as the printing press changed the accessibility of books.  With the printing press, woodblock printing was left behind and there were two predominant methods of creating book illustrations - etching and engraving.

Etchings were made by placing a "waxy ground" on a metal that was resistant to acid, and the artist would scratch off the ground with a needle to create the image.  The metal would then be dipped in acid, where the acid would eat into the exposed metal and would leave sunk lines in the metal plate.  The ground would then be washed off the plate, and ink would be applied which would fill the sunk lines.  The plate could then be applied to paper through a high pressure printing press to create the image.

Engravings have been around for much longer, but was harder to learn compared to etchings.  Engravings are the direct carving of images onto (traditionally) a copper plate, with practically the same methods used in transferring the image to print.  Sharp and precise tools, as well as artwork prepared in advance were usually more important for engravings.

In the middle of the 16th century, woodcut illustrations became less popular in favor of etchings and engravings.  Using etchings and engravings to create illustrations needed a different kind of printing press than for text, so illustrations were usually made separately which led to full page illustrations in books.  These methods also gave more defined, sharper images which aided in the printing of better maps.  Both methods could also be mixed on a plate to create the optimum print.  Mass production of book illustrations today have progressed much from these early beginnings, but it is incredible to see the amount of precision and detail in the old illustrations given the way they were illustrated.  The talent to create these on metal is very impressive.

What is your favorite illustrated book?  Or do you have a favorite book illustrator?

Source:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia / Wikipedia

The Refined Reader (27) Movable Type and the Printing Press

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Movable type is similar to woodblock printing which was the subject of last week's Refined Reader.  In this case, instead of using wood for each character block, metal is used, which is more durable and created better looking letters on the page.  Movable type was first invented by Bi Sheng in China, around 1040 A.D.  However, movable type was not as practical in China because there are thousands of letters in their alphabet.  In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg, of Germany, further developed the idea of movable type when he invented his printing press.  Movable type was not widely used in Europe at the time, despite having been invented in China centuries before, but Gutenberg changed that by creating a method that was easier and more efficient in manipulating the movable type pieces.

Some of the innovations Gutenberg came up with included a specific metal alloy for the letter pieces which made ink transfer better, a hand mould which held the letters, a mould that could create the letter pieces more easily, and an oil-based ink which was more durable than previously used water-based inks.

Gutenberg's printing press revolutionized European history and is thought to be one of the main factors in the beginning of the Renaissance.  Mass production of books made the spread of books, information and new ideas much easier in Europe and it also led to the invention of the newspaper.  Because of the printing press, printing output in 1600 could be around 3,600 paper impressions a day, while in Asia with printed paper done manually, the output was at most 40 pages a day.  This also meant that with large copies of one book available, certain books could become true bestsellers.

But there were other changes to reading habits - over a long period of time reading moved from predominantly oral to silent, authorship became important and profitable, and it helped to standardize spelling and syntax.  It also led to the need for copyright laws and of course a rise in the literacy rate.  It's truly wonderful to think how such a simple invention - the main idea of which was just a better way to press the shapes of different letters to paper - could so change the course of history for the better.  And even though I learned about the printing press in school, I didn't realize how much it has impacted the way we read and our relationship with books!

Next week: Etching

Source:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia

The Refined Reader (26) Woodblock Printing

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

I'm going to start a small series on The Refined Reader on printing, starting with the oldest known method of printing called woodblock printing.  Printing in this case is the reproduction of text or images using a template.  Woodblock printing originated in China, around 200 b.c. and is basically like using a stamp to reproduce the text.  This could be done in two ways however - by pressing the block to the paper or cloth (like a stamp) or by rubbing - placing the paper on top of the woodblock and rubbing the back of the paper with a smooth flat item.  The idea of using a stamp for making marks was not new at the time - many clay tablets in ancient times had markings made by stamps or seals, but woodblock printing was on a larger scale.

The origins of woodblock printing is strongly associated with Buddhism, because sutras, or manuals, of Buddhist teachings were more widely circulated through these printings.  The earliest known print is the Mugujeonggwang great Dharani sutra which is a Buddhist text.  At the time, 1 million copies of the sutra was printed for distribution.

Woodblock printing traveled to Europe some centuries later and became more common in the 13th century.  Soon movable type and the printing press would become more widespread in Europe, but woodblock printing would continue to be used in Asia mostly because the language has thousands of characters, and it was easier to make the woodblock as each character came up as opposed to creating them all on a woodblock.  Woodblock printing is still used in Asia (which is exciting since I love that such an ancient technology is still useful.)

Next week: Movable type

Sources:
Wikipedia (Many thanks to Wikipedia for having these kinds of printing grouped together on the site!)
Asian Education

The Refined Reader (25) Bibliotherapy

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

source

The idea of reading to feel better mentally goes back to Medieval times when physicians would recommend reading (and writing) to treat melancholy.  Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus has a line that refers to this as well - "Come, take choice of all my library/ And so beguile thy sorrow."  The idea at the time was that reading something happy, positive, or encouraging would help you reflect on your situation and "heal the troubled soul."  In 1916 the stages of therapeutic bibliotherapy was categorized by Samuel Crothers (who also coined the term) as Identification, Catharsis and Insight.  That is, in the case of using fiction for bibliotherapy, the reader identifies with some aspect of the story, finds release in sharing with the character's feelings, and gains insight into how to apply that to dealing with their own emotions.  In the case of using non-fictional works like self-help books, the process is much more simplified and direct (but less fun in my opinion!).

The effectiveness of bibliotherapy really seems to stem from how helpful it is to get a new perspective on things.  Reading is an internal process so it is useful in focusing the reader on examining 'self' and coming to terms with their emotions through the expressions of literature.  Modern views on bibliotherapy place it as an effective method of cognitive behavioral therapy to encourage people to replace maladaptive thinking with rational and realistic thinking.  Bibliotherapy has been seen to positively treat OCD, bulimia, emotional disorders, alcohol addiction and depression for older people.

I think for avid readers, the idea of bibliotherapy is not new at all.  I know I can feel better curling up with a good book after a hectic day, and being able to experience new things through books is a great way to forget about everyday sadness.  And this post came about because I was interested in the scientific aspect of why bibliotherapy works (which is only briefly and superficially examined here) and it's really comforting to have it confirmed how much reading is a positive and healthy pastime.

Do you have favorite 'comfort' reads, that always cheer you up?  What are they? 

Sources:
Wikipedia
Words, Stones, and Herbs: The Healing Word in Medieval and Early Modern England
Patient's and Provider's Perspectives on Bibliotherapy

The Refined Reader (24) The First Author

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Enheduanna was a princess and high priestess in ancient Sumeria.  She lived in the 3rd millenium B.C. (over 4,000 years ago) and her biggest claim to fame is that she is the first person we know of who ascribed her name to her writing - the first author we are aware of.  She wrote many hymms and devotionals dedicated to the goddess Inanna.

Enheduanna was a priestess in her father's empire and worked to unite the local religions which in turn joined the city-states of the region and helped gain her father more power.  She may have been the first female to hold the office of high priestess in which case her rule would have been an important occasion in their history.  There was a coup during her time as priestess which caused her to be exiled, but she was reinstated some time after, which is detailed in her work "The Exaltation of Inamma."

She composed over forty hymms which reflected her "personal frustrations and hopes, religious devotion, her response to war, and feelings about the world she lived in." Her hymms were very influential and inspired the forms and subjects of hymms and psalms of the Bible and the Homeric hymms of Greece.  Her works are known as The Temple Hymms and contain a wealth of information on the life and beliefs of that time.  It's inspiring to me to think of this creative woman as an author and a leader such a long time ago and how influential her work has been even if not many people have heard of her today.

Here's a sample of her work, where she talks about her exile:

You asked me to enter the holy cloister,
The giparu,
and I went inside, I the high priestess
Enheduanna!
I carried the ritual basket and sang
Your praise.
Now I am banished among the lepers.
Even I cannot live with you.
Shadows approach the light of day, the light
Is darkened around me,
Shadows approach the daylight,
Covering the day with sandstorm.
My soft mouth of honey is suddenly confused.
My beautiful face is dust.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Ancient History Encyclopedia
Transoxiana

The Refined Reader (23) Origins of Poetry

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Poetry as a literary form uses rhythm and aesthetic to enhance meaning  - it's a creation that depends on language in ways that are different to the requirements of literature.  It requires precision in sound and meter as well as in meaning.  And it is thought to predate literacy because in ancient times poetry was a useful way to remember oral history and genealogy.  Our oldest works of fiction are often in epic poem format including The Epic of Gilgamesh.

However there is an older Ancient Egyptian poem that we are aware of, titled Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor which is possibly 500 years older than The Epic of Gilgamesh.  In the Tale, a merchant returns from an unsuccessful sea voyage, and is afraid of how the King will receive him.  One of his servants tells him a story of his experiences on a doomed journey to give him comfort.  On that journey the servant was the sole survivor of a shipwreck, but was saved by a god, and given food and treasure to take back to his land and his King.  It's a pretty short text and you can read it here.

In Classical times, the form of poetry was made a study, and was divided into three forms -  epic, comic and tragic.  Later the categories were redefined as epic, lyric and dramatic - dramatic included comedy and tragedy.  It is also conjectured that poetry had its origins in songs because it's form that emphasizes brevity, rhythm and condensing words might have come about as a way to fit it to music.

Poetry is about sound, emotion and the beauty of language even if it's origins were more as a useful method of remembering histories.  I'm not a particular poetry reader, but there are some poems that really captivate me with it's expression and beauty.  I love the sound of language, and poetry can heighten the experience of words.

What are your favorite poems?

Sources:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia
Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor

The Refined Reader (22) What is a Classic Book?

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

A classic book, according to the definition of the word 'classic' is a book that is "judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of it's kind."  No small feat then for a book to be called a classic.  But the exact merits of a classic book is pretty hard to define.  It can be a very personal opinion when it comes to certain books, but there are quite a few that are widely accepted as classics.  There are a few points or ideas that seem to commonly define a classic:

• Stands the test of time 
• Can bring new pleasure or knowledge with each reread
• Open to reinterpretation

A literary critic, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, wrote an essay in 1850 on this topic and stated that a classic is "easily contemporary with all time."  I thought that was a tremendous way to describe a classic.  It embodies the idea that it is easy to identify with the classic book, no matter what the time or person.  And for the most part, the classics that I have read really have fulfilled that timelessness that is so important to the longevity of a book.

This is going to turn into more of a discussion post now!  It is easy now to say a classic is an old book, or a well-received or applauded book, but I think it is interesting to think of a classic as a book that is deeply meaningful to humanity.  Books that really probe or test the way we think, or the way we live.  It doesn't need to be deep in itself, but it will continue to resonate with people far into the future.  And for people who are picking up a new classic book to read - it's great to go into it with the goal of discovering that meaning or the reason why it's meant so much to so many people.

P.S. After I typed up this post, I started seeing classics talk everywhere and noticed that Alyssa from Sunrise Avenue wrote on this very topic just recently.  So I wanted to link to her post so you can check out her very well-written thoughts on the subject.

Sources:
Wikipedia

The Refined Reader (21) Banned Books

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

The movement to read and support banned books is a great one (headed by ALA) and for this post I was curious to know the origins of this pretty ridiculous practice.  What were the first books ever banned, and how and why it was thought necessary.

Looking at the list of government banned books on Wikipedia - it appears that early banned books included many essays and political texts like the Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, written in 1791 and Mirror of the Polish Crown, published in 1618.  I suppose it's understandable (not right though) that governments feel the need to suppress politically controversial works.  Religion is another reason why books are banned.  The first book banned in America was in 1650 with a text criticizing the Puritan religion by William Pynchon.  Pynchon was accused of heresy and had to move back to England to escape religious persecution (irony!).

Books have also been banned for reasons based on morality - and for the most part, novels fall into that category.  Some early books banned years later on the basis of morality or inappropriate content include Candide by Voltaire, The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.  I thought it was funny that the latter book was banned in Hunan, China because it features anthropomorphized animals which can give children the idea of thinking of humans and animals on the same level.  There's another frequently banned novel that I hadn't heard of before - Fanny Hill by John Cleland, published in 1749, which according to the plot synopsis features explicit descriptions of sex.  It's astonishing to me that this book was even published in 18th century England!

Obviously I think banning books as a practice is unnecessary or misguided at best, and manipulative and controlling at worst.  It is a step in the right direction that so many countries are a part of a globally connected world where ideas are not so easily suppressed, and individual thought and expression has a way of getting around.  And thankfully we do have movements that encourage people to broaden their horizons by reading books that are thought to be too controversial for the average person or child.

Reading up on the topic just now, it's difficult to really pinpoint the origins of this practice.  It's so different for every culture and government.  And there are many, many books that have been banned over the years - some very surprising choices too - but the practice does seem to have died down a bit recently, as some governments realize that there should be more limits to censorship.  Unfortunately it is still an issue today.

Does knowing that a book was banned make you more interested in reading that book?

Sources:
Wikipedia
ALA
Washington Coalition

The Refined Reader (20) The Origins of Science Fiction

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

After reading about science fiction as a genre, it seems much harder to define than I initially thought.  It is not as rigidly defined as other genres, so there can be a lot of overlap, especially in it's origins, with fantasy.  Fantasy is probably one of the earliest genres of storytelling we have, so that makes sense that science fiction is a kind of offshoot from that genre, where things that can only be speculated on is now more structured by natural laws and science.

Perhaps the first work of  true science fiction (at least it was regarded so by Issac Asimov and Carl Sagan) is Somnium (The Dream) by Johannes Kepler, noted astronomer and scientist of the 1600s.  In the story, the narrator (Kepler) talks about a dream he has had after reading a book about a magician.  In the dream a boy and his mother are transported by a demon to the moon and the story details how the Earth looks from the moon.  It at first started as a dissertation on the planetary motion of the Earth, and the framework of a dream and the fictional circumstances was added later.

Other earlier examples lie in some of the tales in the Arabian Nights and a 2nd century story titled True History by a Grecian writer known as Lucian of Samosata, which features the first story about interplanetary travel and aliens but was intended as a satire of stories that see myths as truth.

However it was in the early 19th century that science fiction as a genre really took form.  Beginning with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is sometimes argued as the first true science fiction novel, and later with the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, which helped to popularize the genre.  The inventions of new technologies also helped to reinvent the format and take it even further into the realm of rational and realistic speculation about the future.

Of course today, the genre is wildly successful in many formats and in many sub-genres.  And I have to mention that there is a wonderful blogger event going on in November - Sci Fi Month, which you can read more about by checking out this post!  I participated last year (but still have to decide if I can commit to it this year!) and had so much fun with it.

What are your favorite science fiction stories?  They can be novels or in any other format!

Sources:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia

The Refined Reader (19) The Codex

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Source

People today debate on the merits of physical books vs. ebooks - a debate that is not so much about whether books will last (as in the actual art of writing stories - that will definitely last) but how do we cope with a new format?  And what are we losing in the transition?  This post isn't about that particular change however, but the transition people had to make many centuries ago when the most common book format was a scroll and bound pages called a codex began to gain popularity.

In the most important aspects, codices are very like the bound books we use today.  Scrolls were long parchments or papyrus with the text written down the front which could then be rolled up for storage.  Around the first century A.D., a codex started to come into use and featured a set of pages bound together on one end with a sturdy cover and spine easy for labeling.  The only real difference between the idea of a codex and books as we know them today, is that a codex was usually handwritten.  And sometimes a codex could be a folded series of pages like in the image above which is an ancient Mayan codex.  These were huge advances over the scroll format.  Codices were easier to carry, more compact, could fit more text because you could write on the front and back of a page, and the most important advancement - you could read text non-linearly.  You could skip and skim parts of the codex very easily and compare sections, while with a scroll it was necessary to keep what you weren't reading rolled up.

It would be interesting to think that there were some Ancient Times hold-outs who loved that they were able to roll up their books and couldn't accept that codices were an improvement on the reading system.  There's some speculation with historians that Christians helped make codices popular because they used them to write out the Bible (which was much more practical due to the Bible's length).  It is also speculated that Christians wanted to use the codex because scrolls were widely used by the Jews.  Indeed Jewish people sometimes still have Torah scrolls for formal ceremonial use.

By the sixth century, scrolls were completely obsolete, although the scroll was used longer in the Far East than in the West.  So if we look at the example of history, we still have some time before physical books are phased out! (But I don't want them to be!  I still love my physical books!)

Do you think physical books will become obsolete a century from now?  Or perhaps more of a collector's item for the avid reader?

Sources:
Wikipedia
The New York Times (much more informative on this topic)
The Book and Paper Group

The Refined Reader (18) Of Cigars and Books

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

This is an interesting story I happened to come across and I wanted to share it through The Refined Reader.  There is a tradition in Cuba where readers (lectores) read to cigar rollers in the factory to help them pass the time since cigar rolling is monotonous work.  It started in 1865 when journalist and poet, Saturnino Martinez, organized the first reading for a cigar factory in Havana.  The practice became more widespread when cigar factories flourished - in the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Mexico, but it has since dwindled and now Cuba is the only country that employs these readers.

The reader usually starts out by reading a newspaper to the workers and then after a break, will pick up where they left off the day before in a book.  It is because of this tradition that a couple cigar brands were named after books - the brands Montecristos and Romeo y Julieta.  But classics are not the only books read.  Sometimes popular novels, non-fiction and self-help books are read to the workers and sometimes authors will drop by and read their works.  It's really a fantastic system to keep the cigar workers eager to come to work and mentally engaged and connected with their co-workers.  I would think it would be wonderful to be able to talk about these books with their co-workers and it helps to broaden their horizons by learning something new.  And in the past it was a sometimes subversive act since the workers would have taboo political books on independence read to them.

It is conjectured in the articles I read about this that listening to these readers helps turn out a greater quality of cigar.  Which is a very nice thought, but I'm never going to find out.

Do you listen to audiobooks at work (if you are able to)?  Do you think it would help you be more productive?

Sources:
Cigar Aficionado (just disregard the nonsense on the pleasures of smoking)
BBC News
Project MUSE

The Refined Reader (17) Swashbuckler

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Source

This week, I'm sort of featuring one book that I've read recently - Traitor's Blade - which comes out tomorrow in the U.S.  My review will be posted tomorrow and an interview with the author, Sebastien de Castell, will go up Wednesday to make this an informal swashbuckler/adventure week on my blog.  This book enthralled me from the first chapter, so I hope to encourage other readers to check it out!

So! I was curious about the term 'swashbuckler' which is usually applied to pirates and swordsmen, and as an adjective or sub-genre to books and films.  It's an interesting term on it's own, one that has been used since 1560.  The origin of the word is conjectured to be a combination of the sound of a side sword brandished and struck against a buckler, which is a type of small hand shield. The term was originally applied to the people who would use those weapons in a fight, but with a slightly negative connotation according to the OED - "A swaggering bravo or ruffian."

As a genre, swashbucklers usually have chivalric intentions at it's heart and it's beginnings include King Arthur's tales, as well as Robin Hood.  Later, classic interpretations would continue to build on the idealistic and daring theme with Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers and (a personal favorite) The Scarlet Pimpernel.  There's a sense of heightened drama and excitement that comes with the term now, as well as a strong sense of justice and honor, and it's definitely an appealing sub-genre for me because of it's historical settings and Romantic intentions.

Do you have a favorite swashbuckling tale?

Sources:
Wikipedia
Oxford English Dictionary

(It seems the publisher of Traitor's Blade is involved in the whole Amazon dispute thing, so I'm definitely buying my copy from my local bookstore - please let them stock it! - Amazon is being so annoying...)

The Refined Reader (16) Dewey Decimal System

The Refined Reader aims to take a look at the journey to where we are as readers today.  It's part history, part commentary - providing a brief, conversational summary of various aspects of our bookish past and comparing it to how it has affected us in modern times.  I love history, but I am no historian, and while I plan to do my research, if there are any errors, please let me know!  This is as much a learning venture for me as I hope it is for my blog visitors!

Created by Melvil Dewey in 1876, the Dewey Decimal System categorizes books by topic, with decimal numbers added for sub categories within each broad topic.  Previously libraries often organized their books in order of acquisition or by height. (!)

Melvil Dewey came up with his classification while working in the library of Amherst College and was largely inspired by the structural systems of Sir Francis Bacon, and the card system of Italian publisher Natale Battezzati. After some refinement, he published his system as a pamphlet and it quickly gained popularity in the U.S.  Although of late, other systems have been put into use because the Dewey system is copyrighted and can be expensive (The Library of Congress uses a classification based on one created by Charles Ammi Cutter), the Dewey system is still widely used and continues to be updated. Here's how the Dewey Decimal system breaks down 800 - Literature:

800  Literature, rhetoric & criticism
810  American literature in English

• 811 Poetry
• 812 Drama
• 813 Fiction
• 814 Essays
• 815 Speeches
• 816 Letters
• 817 Satire & humor
• 818 Miscellaneous writings
• 819 Puzzle activities

820  English & Old English literatures
830  German & related literatures
840  French & related literatures
850  Italian, Romanian & related literatures
860  Spanish & Portuguese literatures
870  Latin & Italic literatures
880  Classical & modern Greek literatures
890  Other literatures

Obviously this can be sub-divided into many more categories.  Another example I wanted to look at is a phrase I've seen around that I think is pretty cute - "I still believe in 398.2"

300 - Social Sciences
390 - Customs, etiquette and folklore
398 - Folklore

• 398.204 Folk literature by language
• 398.208 Groups of people
• 398.209 History, geographic treatment, biography
• 398.21 Tales and lore of paranatural beings of human and semihuman form
• 398.22 Tales and lore of persons without paranormal powers
• 398.23 Tales and lore of places and times
• 398.24 Tales and lore of plants and animals
• 398.25 Ghost stories
• 398.26 Tales and lore involving physical and natural phenomena
• 398.27 Tales and lore of humanity and human existence
• 398.28 Tales and lore of other topics

Uh, basically fairy tales.  The Dewey Decimal System does have it's criticisms - it can be complex, it's geared towards an Anglo-American world-view, and it is copyrighted.  But it enjoys a widespread popularity as a classification system in libraries, and it helped changed the way libraries are organized to make it more accessible to the patron.  Although when I was younger, I never really understood how it worked!  I just looked at the name of each section!

How familiar are you with the Dewey Decimal System? Did you understand it's basic structure before reading this post? (I'm wondering how widely it was understood for library patrons.  Of course if you're a librarian that is different!)

Sources:
Wikipedia / Wikipedia
Nova University
Dewey Decimal Classification