OpinionsPathwaysBook without words; city without books

Book without words; city without books

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Celebrated Chinese artist Xu Bing who is also vice president of China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, has authored a novel titled Book from the Ground: From Point-to-Point, a tale recounting 24 hours in the life of a young white-collar worker of a major city.

What sets the book apart is its unique presentation — it is “written” without a single word, instead, it is composed of hundreds of icons, and pictograms, that Xu has been collecting for years making it a book that can be read by any one. It is an outstanding attempt to produce a universal form of written communication that goes beyond cultural, linguistic, class, and educational backgrounds. In Xu’s words, “The illiterate can enjoy the delight of reading just as the intellectual does.”

“It’s the first book that everyone in the world can read, since it needs no translation,” said the artist, adding that currently, by using a very simple system of signs, emoticon users, especially young people, enjoy the ability “to communicate on the international level.”

“The idea for the book began 13 years ago, when I was having expositions all over the world and I spent a lot of time in airports,” said Xu, who said he could not avoid noticing, in an enclave where people of all nationalities mingle, that the informational icons visible everywhere were universally understood.

The book includes 24 chapters of narration using visual icons, telling the story of a day in a person’s life as he gets up in the morning, goes through his workday, goes out with his friends after work and then finally goes to bed.

“Book from the Ground” is a continuation of Xu’s book entitled “Book from the Sky,” a work with illegible Chinese characters that nobody can read, using a language invented by the artist himself.

*****

Above is an article I wrote for a Singapore-based newspaper. After I submitted it, I began thinking about Dumaguete, how our city library is so lacking in books, the state of disinterest that Dumaguetnons have in books or in reading, our miniscule number of book writers, and how technology has eventually ‘invaded’ Dumaguete to the point that books are becoming extinct.

And has anyone noticed that National Bookstore (Robinson’s) has closed shop? I was wondering why it stopped operating. My daughter had the chance to ask one of its staff members and she was told that they needed a larger place and since they couldn’t find one (really? in Dumaguete?), they will have to stop operating. Is this truly the reason? Or it’s because nobody is buying their books? Not because their books are not good but because nobody likes to read anymore.

Notice that no bookstore ever thrives in Dumaguete? Except for Caballes, of course, since its primarily selling textbooks and other stuff.

I can still remember, there was a fully-packed bookstore somewhere in San Juan St. in the late 1990s but it didn’t last. And I’m not sure if that book club located at the old Lupega Building is still around. Obviously, Book Sale is still around, but until when? There is a coffee shop in downtown Dumaguete where many books are displayed for customers to read (or at least scan its pages) but I’ve been there several times and nobody even gives a glimpse of them except make them the background of selfies.

We have very few home-grown book writers. Edith Tiempo is gone, we still have Cesar Aquino and Bobby Villasis though but while their minds and their talents never age, let’s face it, they’re bodies aren’t that young anymore so it would have been better if there are young minds who will take their place.

So, what’s my point? I think I’m just lamenting the fact that for a university town, for a city with so many professionals and intellectuals in it, reading is not a favored activity and books are not seen as cherished items.

Going back to the Chinese book without words, maybe, just maybe, if there is a book that will just have pictures in it and no words, perhaps, Dumaguetnons will want to “read.” After all, doesn’t a picture paint a thousand words?

A call

While waiting for that book (granting that a Dumaguetnon will dare to make one) perhaps, we need to stock our city library with new books or maybe not-so-new but good books. If the city cannot do that right now, I’m calling all concerned Dumaguetnons to donate their books to the city library. I am also calling for all social entrepreneurs to think of ways where people can have access to books; creative individuals to initiate activities and programs that will inculcate in children the love of reading and of books, and innovative businessmen to create projects that will promote reading and books in this city.

For once, let us make this university town a genuine cradle of knowledge because this is one way of making this City truly a City of Gentle People.

__________________________________

Author’s email: [email protected]

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