"The book is an inappropriate gauge of good writing". Ikhide
Of books, good writing and warped logic.
One begins to wonder where Ikhide got this logic from. Simply because of the internet, he summarizes that the book is an inappropriate gauge of good writing? This sounds strange. What parameters are you using, if I may ask, to arrive at this conclusion/confession or confusion?
Even the Internet boasts of e-books, or is it not so? The discovery of e-books and other digital means of erudition obviously has its root in writing. From a set of written sheets of skin or paper, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, or tablets of wood or ivory, book emerged and has been thought several decades of technological advancement to arrive at the Internet, nay, the e-book as we have it today.
Not one , not two members of this forum have expressed the hope that one day, someone might take time out to compile all the exchanges on his platform into a book. Those of us who teach in the Ivory Towers now employ the service of the Internet. Research and teaching obviously relies on books, good books. Dismissing literary composition or writing as not good enough to engage the Internet is unsavory to say the least.
That ANA is competing with the Internet for members, is not a bad development. You and I know that in 1981 when Achebe spearheaded the founding of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, there was nothing like the internet in this part of the world. And after thirty-two years, the body has proved itself and it's objectives, some of which are highlighted in the interview in reference. I have read it and even commended Richard for a job well-done. ANA is not doing badly as it is aware of the far-reaching influence of the digital age versus the book.
If the book is no longer, in your contention, an acceptable yardstick of measuring good writing, when in fact, efforts are on towards reviving the publishing industry, then kindly recommend to us what is? Nigerian writers of literary work and other genres indeed would not hesitate to try out your option if found superior. Why then are we as teachers still recommending reading lists for our students every semester, adding Internet sources , which are often than not sourced from books ?
I am not writing merely because I am a member of ANA. I am writing because I read good books during my teenage years, in secondary school, when we had a full period or two on the time-table for us to be ensconced in the confines of the robustly rich school library. I recall with nostalgia those days as I looked forward to the library period as it afforded me the opportunity to 'eat up' pages upon pages before the bell rang, signaling a return to the classroom. I even went a little further by borrowing books from the library and making sure I read before coming back to school the next day, sometimes as I trekked to school in the morning or trekked home under the sun in the afternoon. I had no shoes then, as many others, but I had books. No wonder GEJ launched the bring- back- the -book initiative recently, and not bring back the shoes!
Perhaps You need to have a rethink.If you assume that internet writing will ever replace the book, inspite of the precarious state of our reading culture, I suggest you Join ANA and help gauge the state of good writing in Nigeria. Don't kill good initiative that began in the 12th century!
Shalom!
'Diran
Mask the priest
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 6, 2013, at 15:53, Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The book is an inappropriate gauge of good writing
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