B.O.O.K.

Introducing B.O.O.K., the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device.

B.O.O.K is a revolutionary break-through in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire; yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.

Here's how it works: B.O.O.K. is constructed of sequentially-numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, B.O.O.K.s with more information simply use more pages. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet.

B.O.O.K. may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it. B.O.O.K. never crashes or requires rebooting, though, like other devices, it can become damaged if coffee is spilled on it and it becomes unusable if dropped too many times on a hard surface. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.

An optional "B.O.O.K.mark" accessory allows you to open B.O.O.K. to the exact place you left it in a previous session -- even if the BOOK has been closed. B.o.o.k.marks fit universal design standards; thus, a single bookmark can be used in B.O.O.K.s by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous B.O.O.K.markers can be used in a single B.O.O.K. if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the B.O.O.K. You can also make personal notes next to B.O.O.K. text entries with optional programming tools, like Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli (P.E.N.C.I.L.S.).

Portable, durable, and affordable, B.O.O.K. is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. B.O.O.K.'s appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.

+ El libro, dice Umberto Eco, es como la rueda: una vez inventado no se puede hacer nada mejor. Cada 23 de abril, cuando se conmemora el Día del Libro, hace regresar la polémica sobre la agonía de este producto, a punto de ser arrojado al basurero de la historia, según sus enemigos.

En una obra reciente (Nadie acabará con los libros), Eco y J. C. Carrière conversan sobre ese asunto y se preguntan por los efectos de la rápida caducidad de los nuevos soportes (vídeo, cedé, DVD). Esa caducidad impide ver lo que compramos hace 10 años con los reproductores actuales, en contraste con la facilidad con que la continuidad del soporte libro permite leer uno escrito hace siglos.

Circula por la red este vídeo descacharrante sobre la última novedad en materia de lectura, un producto caracterizado por no necesitar cables, circuitos ni baterías, utilizable en cualquier lugar, que puede ser escaneado ópticamente para ser registrado directamente por el cerebro, y cuyo nombre es B.O.O.K.

Puede ser una fantasía de nostálgicos, pero es cierto que las cerillas hubieran sido consideradas un gran adelanto de haberse inventado después, y no antes, que los mecheros. Además, también se auguró el fin de la pintura con la fotografía, el del teatro con el cine, y el del cine con la televisión; y fallaron las casandras. Por lo demás, incluso si el libro de papel desapareciera, seguirían siendo necesarios los escritores, lo cual es una garantía de continuidad. Como advirtió Bertolt Brecht a los generales, sus bombarderos necesitan hombres que los piloten. No existen máquinas capaces de escribir libros digitales.

Artículo relacionado: Quiero leer en papel

The Benefits of Reading

According to writer and philosopher Alain de Botton and those at The School of Life, books are valuable because they expand our knowledge and understanding, validate our feelings and actions, and inspire our lives.

If you’re one of the non-book readers that says, “I watch the news, I read stuff on the Internet, I scan a magazine article once in a while, so I don’t need no stinking books!”, maybe I can change your mind with these ten psychologically beneficial reasons to start the habit.

1) Reading saves you time

Sometimes it may seem like reading is wasting time, but it’s actually the ultimate time-saver because it gives us access to a range of emotions and experiences that it would take years and years to experience in person. Reading is the best reality simulator because it takes us through so many more situations than we will ever have time to see for ourselves.

Reading also acts as a time machine. By picking up and opening a book we can hear great people and writers from the past speaking to us, mind-to-mind, and heart-to-heart.

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” ~William Styron

2) Reading gives us opportunities to experience other cultures and places

Reading reveals aspects of the lives of people in other places like India or Ireland, giving us insight into many ethnicities, cultures, lifestyles, etc. By reading, we become more aware of different places and the customs of those places.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” ~Dr. Seuss

3) Reading builds compassion

Reading books takes us into another person’s world and allows us to see through his/her eyes. Books give us truths about human beings – their behaviors, their emotions, how they interact – that’s hard to get any other way other than reading about it. Not only that, authors can relate their experiences, feelings, and knowledge about these things because it goes into what they write.

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” ~Alan Bennet

4) Reading improves creativity

Reading about the diversity of life and exposing ourselves to new ideas and more information helps to bring out the creative side of our brain as it absorbs new ideas and ways of thinking.

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ~Stephen King

5) Reading helps reduce feelings of loneliness

We often can’t say what’s really on our minds, but in books we amazingly find descriptions of what we think about. In the best books, it’s as if the writer knows us better than we know ourselves, finding the words to describe the delicate, weird, and unique goings-on inside of us, which helps with feelings of being the only one that thinks like that. And being entertained through reading can help us forget about our own troubles for a while.

“We read to know we’re not alone.” ~William Nicholson

6) Reading cures boredom

If we’re feeling bored, all we have to do is pick up a book and start reading. What is bound to happen is that we’ll become interested in the book’s subject and stop being bored. Think about it, if we’re bored anyway, we might as well be reading a good book, right?

“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” ~Jane Smiley

7) Reading prepares us for the future

Many books are about life’s challenges and ways of dealing with it and the people around us. They’re a tool to help us live and die with a little bit more wisdom, graciousness, and sanity. More often than not, reading a book has made the future of a person.

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” ~Margaret Fuller

8) Reading engages the mind

Reading uses our brains. While reading, we’re forced to reason out many things that we’re not familiar with, using more of our grey matter. Plus, reading improves vocabulary. While reading books, especially challenging ones, we’ll find many new words we wouldn’t see, hear, or use otherwise.

Reading also improves concentration and focus because with books we focus on what we’re reading for longer periods of time compared to magazines or Internet posts that only have bits of information. And since we have to concentrate when reading, like a muscle, we’ll get better at it. Similarly, reading helps stretch memory muscles so it also improves memory. Research shows if you don’t use your memory, you lose it.

“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” ~Fran Lebowitz

9) Reading increases self-confidence

The more we read, the more we learn. With more knowledge, our self-esteem builds.  Strong self-esteem helps with self-confidence. It’s a chain reaction. And being well-read, people will look to us for answers, which makes us feel smarter.

“A word after a word after a word is power.” ~Margaret Atwood

10) Reading always gives us something to talk about

Reading books keeps us out of embarrassing situations where we don’t have anything to talk about. We can chat about the latest Stephen King book we’ve read or discuss the stuff we’re learning in the business or psychology books we’re reading. The possibilities of sharing become endless.

Politics at play when banning books

55% of Republicans think that texts with homosexual or transgender characters should be banned from elementary school libraries. This is Donald Trump's America.

The American Library Association is set to release its 2017 list of Top Ten Most Challenged Books, and a peek at last year’s lineup reveals a very distinct trend –  five of the ten books were disputed by parents, educators, and concerned citizens alike for their inclusion of LGBT characters. New data from YouGov Omnibus suggests that the trend will likely continue onto this year’s list.

The majority of Republicans (55%) feel that books with homosexual or transgender characters should be banned from all elementary school libraries, and 2 in 5 (21%) think that they shouldn’t be present in public libraries either. In comparison, a quarter of Democrats (26%) agree that this sort of literature should not be accessible to grade school students, while just 13% would consider public libraries an improper place to house LGBT-related reading materials.

Since Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone first appeared on bookshelves in 1997, it has stirred up intense controversy – and been regarded by some as “satanic,”  – for presenting children with themes related to “the dark arts.” Two decades after the popular novel was published, negative sentiment surrounding texts featuring witchcraft, wizardry, and magic remains. In fact, 41% of Republicans want books with these subjects banned from elementary school libraries, and over a quarter (28%) don’t think they belong in the hands of high schoolers. Comparatively, 24% of Democrats would keep occult literature out of elementary schools, while 17% would in high schools. However, 13% of both Republicans and Democrats don’t think public libraries should carry books related to magic.

Similarly, over half of Republicans (57%) want books which employ blasphemous language to be banned from elementary schools, in comparison to 38% of Democrats. The partisan split narrows, though, when it comes to public libraries, with 27% of Republicans and 21% of Democrats saying books which takes God’s name in vain should be kept out.

However, for the most part, party agreement on the appropriateness of certain elements in literature ends there. For example, the majority of Republicans (55%) believe it is inappropriate to exhibit books with sexually suggestive images on the cover in a public library, while just over a third of Democrats feel this way (35%). There is also a break between the sexes on this particular topic – 52% of women think it is inappropriate, but just 40% of men.

Doris Lessing on Students, Teachers and Books

By Doris Lessing

Once upon a time —and it seems quite far-off— there was a respected figure, the cultured person. He —it used to be a he, but as time went by it progressively became a she— received an education which differed very little from one country to another (…), but which was quite different from what we know today. Our great essayist William Hazlitt went to a school at the end of the 18th century whose studying programme was four times more comprehensive than that of any comparable school today: an amalgam of the basic principles of language, law, the arts, religion and maths. It was taken for granted that this education, already dense and profound in itself, was only one facet of personal development, since students were expected to read, and they did so.

This type of education, the so-called humanistic education, is disappearing today.  Governments (…) are, more and more, encouraging their citizens to acquire professional knowledge, while an education perceived as an integral development of an individual is not considered useful in modern society. The education system of days-gone-by would have contemplated literature and Greek and Latin history (…) as the basis for everything else. He  —or she— used to read the classics from his/her own country, maybe one or two Asian writers and the best-known authors from other European countries: Goethe, Shakespeare, Cervantes, the great Russians, Rousseau (…).

This does not exist any more (…). Instances of this academic excellence of days-gone-by remain in some universities, in some schools, in the classrooms of some old-fashioned teachers in love with books, perhaps in some newspapers or magazines. (…)

Extracts from the acceptance speech given by novelist Doris Lessing upon receiving the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature, on 26th October, 2001. She is the highly-acclaimed author of The Golden Notebook.

The Need to Read

Reading books is one of the most recommended language-learning activities to do outside the classroom. For one thing, reading is free. Also, reading helps you fix the structures you learn in your brain without you even noticing it. 

In hard times like these, when Public Education is subject to continuous budget cutbacks, checking out books freely from the Engineering School Library is one of those treats our diminishing welfare state still can provide for you. Take advantage of it! At the Sala de Autoaprendizaje you will find a collection of about 200 books aimed at A2, B1, B2 and C1 learners. Some of these reading books come with an audio CD. They are a suggestion to help you improve your vocabulary and syntax, and with the audio mp3, improve your comprehension of spoken English. Check some of them out and enjoy reading a good story.

Don't forget there are tons of free books on the Internet that you can download too, or read them online; a good place to start is Project Gutenberg, which has more than 50,000 free books. And, if you are using a Kindle, you can use the English-English dictionary or an English-Spanish dictionary for difficult words.

The Happiness of Reading_survey

In celebration of its ten-year anniversary last October, the editorial group GeMS presented at Bookcity Milan a significant new research study conducted by Cesmer/Roma3 University on a sample of the Italian population, and centered on the relationship between reading books and individual happiness.  The study shows that readers are on average happier than non-readers, in addition to being better at making the most of their free time, and more psychologically prepared for confronting negative emotions. Through scientific research, the study adds a concrete dimension to this cultural discussion.

BACKGROUND 
Are people who read books (either on paper or digitally) happier than those who don’t read? Does reading increase one’s well-being? These are not easy questions, so much so that no study in Italy until now has tried to answer them. In fact, the periodic surveys on reading tend to leave out these aspects, focusing above all on the number of readers in Italy – which is historically lower than in most western countries – and on its different variations. Meanwhile, the value of reading on a cognitive and emotional level has gone unknown, until today. This study wants to fill the gap, following the belief that reading could be better promoted among non-readers if its benefits were quantified. 

PRINCIPAL RESULTS OF THE STUDY 

1. Readers in Italy are overall happier than non-readers

• The happiness of readers rates higher than that of non-readers (measured using the 1 to 10 scale suggested by Veenhoven). In fact, Italian readers of printed or digital books register a happiness index of 7.44, while non.readers had an index of 7.21, a statistically significant difference. 
• Using a different measurement, known as Subjective Well-being – cognitive dimension, (the Cantril scale, from 0 to 10), Italian readers once again averaged a higher level of well-being than non-readers (7.12 vs. 6.29 respectively, still statistically significant). 

2. Readers in Italy feel positive emotions more often than non-readers 
According to the scale of Diener and Biswas-Diener, which measures how frequently (from 6 to 30) people experience six positive emotions (positive, good, pleasant, happy, joyful, contented) readers have a higher index than non-readers: 21.69 vs. 20.93 respectively (a statistically significant difference). In particular, readers feel “positive” more frequently than non-readers. 

3. Readers in Italy feel negative emotions less often than non-readers 
Readers also fared better on another dimension of the same scale by Diener and Biswas-Diener. This part measures how frequently (from 6 to 30) people recently experienced six negative emotions (negative, bad, unpleasant, sad, afraid, angry). Readers feel negative emotions less frequently than non-readers, with an average score of 16.48, while non-readers have an average of 17.47 (a statistically significant difference). In particular, readers experience anger less often than non-readers, confirming that reading offers valuable cognitive tools for facing difficult situations. 

4. Readers are more satisfied with how they use their free time compared to non-readers 
Following the scale of Van Boven and Gilovich (2003), which measures the happiness generated from people’s employment of their free time (from 1 to 9), readers score higher than non-readers (7.59 vs. 7.35 respectively, a statistically significant difference). 

5. For readers in Italy, reading is the most important use of their free time

• The survey studied reading’s importance in relation to the other cultural activities that people perform in their free time. 
• Reading is the most important free time activity for Italian readers (on a scale from 1 to 9, it rates at 7.88); in second place ranks listening to music (7.31); in third, staying informed and keeping up with current events through newspapers and news sites (7.23); and in fourth, physical exercise and sports (7.02). At the bottom of the list ranks playing videogames (3.23). 

6. For readers in Italy, reading comes fourth among free-time activities for the amount of happiness gained 
While reading, as was just noted, is considered the most important free time activity for readers, it is not first in terms of the notion of generated happiness. On the 1 to 9 scale developed by Van Boven and Gilovich, readers ranked physical exercise and sports first (7.80), followed by listening to music (7.74) and cultural activities and outings (exhibitions, theater, concerts…), which had a score of 7.52. In fourth place, and still with a high score, comes reading (7.24), followed by informing oneself through newspapers and news sites, playing videogames, going to the movies, and surfing the internet or using social media. At the bottom of the list ranks watching TV.  

These are not surprising results: the survey confirms the ability of readers to appreciate their free time, taking advantage of it in manifold ways. 

CONCLUSION 
On average, readers in Italy face life with a more positive outlook in comparison to non-readers, and they know how to enjoy their free time in a richer and more purposeful manner. 

Celebración de la lectura y elogio de la lentitud

Por JOSE ANDRÉS ROJO

Tienen razón todos los que se lamentan. El negocio del libro no va bien. Cada vez resulta más difícil agotar las tiradas de las ediciones, y eso que se han reducido considerablemente. En estos tiempos de penurias económicas, además, no está entre las prioridades de nadie acercarse a una librería para gastar unos euros en esos cachivaches de papel que, para tantos, forman ya parte del pasado. También está lo de la piratería y la competencia desleal de las nuevas tecnologías. Más cosas: ¿quién tiene tiempo hoy para zambullirse en una novela o para liarse en los vericuetos de un ensayo o para andarse con un montón de versos que tratan de vanos amoríos o del desastre de vivir? Claro que hay razones para lamentarse. Alguna más: ¿qué pinta un libro si con el móvil se puede recorrer el mundo en un instante, recibir la mejor información, acceder a los análisis más sesudos, encargar las mejores viandas o establecer vínculos con las damas y los caballeros más competentes, guapos e inteligentes?

(…) George Steiner, unos de los maestros de la crítica literaria, se ocupó en su ensayo Pasión intacta de una obra de Chardin, el fínísimo artista francés del siglo XVIII, en la que retrata a un filósofo leyendo. Paso a paso, va reflexionando sobre cada uno de los elementos que aparecen en el cuadro e intenta de ese modo explicar lo que significa la honda felicidad de leer. Es verdad que se refiere a un filósofo y, por tanto, a alguien familiarizado de sobra con los libros.

Sea como sea, hay un detalle que hoy resulta particularmente significativo. Steiner llama la atención sobre lo bien vestido que va el personaje del cuadro y observa que, cuando Chardin pintaba, la lectura se entendía como “un encuentro cortés”. Una oportunidad que no podía dejarse al azar, por tanto, y a la que convenía presentarse de manera impecable. Luego entra en otras consideraciones y apunta que, para Chardin, leer “es un acto silencioso y solitario”.

Y es verdad. Con demasiada frecuencia se pretende disfrazar el acto de leer con la fórmula que pueda estar más de moda: el entretenimiento, el suspense, la utilidad, la excitación, cualquier suerte de refinamiento especial. Pero al final de todo, leer no es más que eso: apartarse del ruido y entrar en otro mundo habitado por palabras. Siempre toca hacerlo solo y con tiempo, eligiendo la lentitud frente a la velocidad de nuestras circuntancias.

Merece la pena. Ese “acto silencioso y solitario” está tan lleno de riquezas y placeres que quizá tenían razón aquellos antiguos cuando se esforzaban en arreglarse para vivir un momento tan especial. (El País, 30 de mayo de 2015)

The Storytelling Animal

Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It’s easy to say that humans are “wired” for story, but why?

Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, Gottschall tells us what it means to be a storytelling animal. Did you know that the more absorbed you are in a story, the more it changes your behavior? That all children act out the same kinds of stories, whether they grow up in a slum or a suburb? That people who read more fiction are more empathetic?

Of course, our story instinct has a darker side. It makes us vulnerable to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are more “truthy” than true. National myths can also be terribly dangerous: Hitler’s ambitions were partly fueled by a story.

In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life’s complex social problems—just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. storytelling has evolved, like other behaviors, to ensure our survival.

But as Gottschall shows in this remarkable book, stories can also change the world for the better. Most successful stories are moral—they teach us how to live, whether explicitly or implicitly, and bind us together around common values. We know we are master shapers of story. The Storytelling Animal finally reveals how stories shape us.

The pleasure of reading (and laughing)

I’ve just finished reading one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, and can’t but recommend it to you. The Hundred-year-old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, by Swedish author Jonas Jonasson, is a first-rate, laugh-out-loud novel (with a touch of the Marx Brothers). This modern picaresque story, written with a charming simplicity, will have you in stitches from page one; forget about the film version altogether! The English translation reads quite well. Enjoy it. Happy summer. cmg

Train your English with Audio Books

Hasta 20 grandes maestros de la literatura se pueden leer y escuchar en la colección bilingüe y con audiolibro en inglés que EL PAÍS ofrece este verano a sus lectores cada domingo a 4,95 euros. The Canterville Ghost (1887) de Oscar Wilde será el primer relato de la serie, que saldrá al precio de un euro el próximo domingo 22 de junio. El relato del maestro de The Picture of Dorian Gray arranca en la campiña inglesa, con la gótica mansión Canterville como escenario. Con sentido del humor, Wilde enfrenta al pobre espectro de Simon Canterville a la convivencia con una familia norteamericana, los Otis. Aunque Simon lo intentará de mil maneras distintas, los prosaicos usurpadores de su morada serán invulnerables al miedo y al fantasma irá perdiendo su dignidad y sus ganas de asustar.

Tanto a Wilde, como a Virginia Woolf o a Dickens, se lo podrá leer (y escuchar) en inglés. Cada relato enfrenta página a página la traducción con su original: a la derecha en castellano y a la izquierda en inglés. Y también habrá un glosario para recordar que accursed es maldito, tangle, maraña o que el océano mueve su piel en sea-tides, mareas. Todas estas palabras se encuentran en negrita en el texto en inglés. Además del glosario de la A a la Z, cada relato contará con una breve colección de frases hechas que se encuentren en el cuento en cuestión.

Las breves biografías de expertos como Miquel Berga, profesor de literatura inglesa de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona, las traducciones de Álvaro Abella o Laura Salas, los glosarios y los cedés con la versión en audio en inglés en el fondo son solo guindas. El verdadero placer es dejarse llevar, en castellano o en inglés, por las palabras de los genios. Por ejemplo, por el sonoro y suntuoso arranque de The Colour Out of Space (H.P. Lovecraft, 1927): "West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight".

The Enemy?

Are books the real enemy?

Paul Auster on storytelling

Discurso del escritor norteamericano Paul Auster al recibir el PREMIO PRÍNCIPE DE ASTURIAS DE LAS LETRAS 2006
(texto bilingüe):

I don't know why I do what I do. If I did know, I probably wouldn't feel the need to do it. All I can say, and I say it with utmost certainty, is that I have felt this need since my earliest adolescence. I'm talking about writing, in particular writing as a vehicle to tell stories, imaginary stories that have never taken place in what we call the real world. Surely it is an odd way to spend your life -sitting alone in a room with a pen in your hand, hour after hour, day after day, year after year, struggling to put words on pieces of paper in order to give birth to what does not exist -except in your own head. Why on earth would anyone want to do such a thing? The only answer I have ever been able to come with is: because you have to, because you have no choice.

This need to make, to create, to invent is no doubt a fundamental human impulse. But to what end? What purpose does art, in particular the art of fiction, serve in what we call the real world? None that I can think of -at least not in any practical sense. A book has never put food in the stomach of a hungry child. A book has never stopped a bullet from entering a murder victim's body. A book has never prevented a bomb from falling on innocent civilians in the midst of war. Some like to think that a keen appreciation of art can actually make us better people -more just, more moral, more sensitive, more understanding. Perhaps that is true -in certain rare, isolated cases. But let us nor forget that Hitler started out in life as an artist. Tyrants and dictators read novels. Killers in prison read novels. And who is to say they don't derive the same enjoyment from books as everyone else?

In other words, art is useless -at least when compared, say, to the work of a plumber, or a doctor, or a railroad engineer. But is uselessness a bad thing? Does a lack of practical purpose mean that books and paintings and string quartets are simply a waste of our time? Many people think so. But I would argue that it is the very uselessness of art that gives it its value -and that the making of art is what distinguishes us from all other creatures who inhabit this planet, that it is, essentially, what defines us as human beings. To do something for the pure pleasure and beauty of doing it. Think of the effort involved, the long hours of practice and discipline required to become an accomplished pianist or dancer. All the suffering and hard work, all the sacrifices in order to achieve something that is utterly and magnificently... useless.

Fiction, however, exists in a somewhat different realm from the other arts. Its medium is language, and language is something we share with others, that is common to us all. From the moment we learn to talk, we begin to develop a hunger for stories. Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the Bedtime Story - when our mother or father would sit down beside us in the semi-dark and read from a book of fairy tales. Those of us who are parents will have no trouble conjuring up the rapt attention in the eyes of our children when we read to them. Why this intense desire to listen? Fairy tales are often cruel and violent, featuring beheadings, cannibalism, grotesque transformations, and evil enchantments. One would think this material would be too frightening for a young child - but what these stories allow the child to experience is precisely an encounter with his own fears and inner torments - in a perfectly safe and protected environment. Such is the magic of stories: the might drag us down to the depths of hell, but in the end they are harmless.

We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story, and the next, and the next. For years, in every country of the Western world, article after article has been published bemoaning the fact that fewer and fewer people are reading books, that we have entered what some have called the "post-literate age". That may well be true, but at the same time this has not diminished the universal craving for stories. Novels are not the only source, after all. Films and television and even comic books are churning out vast quantities of fictional narratives, and the public continues to swallow them up with great passion. That is because human beings need stories. They need them almost as desperately as they need food, and however the stories might be presented -whether on a printed page or on a television screen -it would be impossible to imagine life without them.

Still, when it comes to the state of the novel, to the future of the novel, I feel rather optimistic. Numbers don't count where books are concerned -for there is only one reader, each and every time only one reader. That explains the particular power of the novel, and why in my opinion, it will never die as a form. Every novel is an equal collaboration between the writer and the reader, and it is the only place in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy. I have spent my life in conversations with people I have never seen, with people I will never know, and I hope to continue until the day I stop breathing. It's the only job I've ever wanted. (20/10/2006)

No sé por qué me dedico a esto. Si lo supiera, probablemente no tendría necesidad de hacerlo. Lo único que puedo decir, y de eso estoy completamente seguro, es que he sentido tal necesidad desde los primeros tiempos de mi adolescencia. Me refiero a escribir, y en especial a la escritura como medio para narrar historias, relatos imaginarios que nunca han sucedido en eso que denominamos mundo real. Sin duda es una extraña manera de pasarse la vida: encerrado en una habitación con la pluma en la mano, hora tras hora, día tras día, año tras año, esforzándose por llenar unas cuartillas de palabras con objeto de dar vida a lo que no existe…, salvo en la propia imaginación. ¿Y por qué se empeñaría alguien en hacer una cosa así? La única respuesta que se me ha ocurrido alguna vez es la siguiente: porque no tiene más remedio, porque no puede hacer otra cosa.

Esa necesidad de hacer, de crear, de inventar es sin duda un impulso humano fundamental. Pero ¿con qué objeto? ¿Qué sentido tiene el arte, y en particular el arte de narrar, en lo que llamamos mundo real? Ninguno que se me ocurra; al menos desde el punto de vista práctico. Un libro nunca ha alimentado el estómago de un niño hambriento. Un libro nunca ha impedido que la bala penetre en el cuerpo de la víctima. Un libro nunca ha evitado que una bomba caiga sobre civiles inocentes en el fragor de una guerra. Hay quien cree que una apreciación entusiasta del arte puede hacernos realmente mejores: más justos, más decentes, más sensibles, más comprensivos. Y quizá sea cierto; en algunos casos, raros y aislados. Pero no olvidemos que Hitler empezó siendo artista. Los tiranos y dictadores leen novelas. Los asesinos leen literatura en la cárcel. ¿Y quién puede decir que no disfrutan de los libros tanto como el que más?

En otras palabras, el arte es inútil, al menos comparado con, digamos, el trabajo de un fontanero, un médico o un maquinista. Pero ¿qué tiene de malo la inutilidad? ¿Acaso la falta de sentido práctico supone que los libros, los cuadros y los cuartetos de cuerda son una pura y simple pérdida de tiempo? Muchos lo creen. Pero yo sostengo que el valor del arte reside en su misma inutilidad; que la creación de una obra de arte es lo que nos distingue de las demás criaturas que pueblan este planeta, y lo que nos define, en lo esencial, como seres humanos. Hacer algo por puro placer, por la gracia de hacerlo. Piénsese en el esfuerzo que supone, en las largas horas de práctica y disciplina que se necesitan para ser un consumado pianista o bailarín. Todo ese trabajo y sufrimiento, los sacrificios realizados para lograr algo que es total y absolutamente… inútil.

La narrativa, sin embargo, se halla en una esfera un tanto diferente de las demás artes. Su medio es el lenguaje, y el lenguaje es algo que compartimos con los demás, común a todos nosotros. En cuanto aprendemos a hablar, empezamos a sentir avidez por los relatos. Los que seamos capaces de rememorar nuestra infancia recordaremos el ansia con que saboreábamos el cuento que nos contaban en la cama, el momento en que nuestro padre, o nuestra madre, se sentaba en la penumbra junto a nosotros con un libro y nos leía un cuento de hadas. Los que somos padres no tendremos dificultad en evocar la embelesada atención en los ojos de nuestros hijos cuando les leíamos un cuento. ¿A qué se debe ese ferviente deseo de escuchar? Los cuentos de hadas suelen ser crueles y violentos, describen decapitaciones, canibalismo, transformaciones grotescas y encantamientos maléficos. Cualquiera pensaría que esos elementos llenarían de espanto a un crío; pero lo que el niño experimenta a través de esos cuentos es precisamente un encuentro fortuito con sus propios miedos y angustias interiores, en un entorno en el que está perfectamente a salvo y protegido. Tal es la magia de los relatos: pueden transportarnos a las profundidades del infierno, pero en realidad son inofensivos.

Nos hacemos mayores, pero no cambiamos. Nos volvemos más refinados, pero en el fondo seguimos siendo como cuando éramos pequeños, criaturas que esperan ansiosamente que les cuenten otra historia, y la siguiente, y otra más. Durante años, en todos los países del mundo occidental, se han publicado numerosos artículos que lamentan el hecho de que se leen cada vez menos libros, de que hemos entrado en lo que algunos llaman la “era posliteraria”. Puede que sea cierto, pero de todos modos no ha disminuido por eso la universal avidez por el relato. Al fin y al cabo, la novela no es el único venero de historias. El cine, la televisión y hasta los tebeos producen obras de ficción en cantidades industriales, y el público continúa tragándoselas con gran pasión. Ello se debe a la necesidad de historias que tiene el ser humano. Las necesita casi tanto como el comer, y sea cual sea la forma en que se presenten –en la página impresa o en la pantalla de televisión–, resultaría imposible imaginar la vida sin ellas.

De todos modos, en lo que respecta al estado de la novela, al futuro de la novela, me siento bastante optimista. Hablar de cantidad no sirve de nada cuando nos referimos a los libros; porque no hay más que un lector, sólo un lector en todas y cada una de las veces. Lo que explica el particular influjo de la novela, y por qué, en mi opinión, nunca desaparecerá como forma literaria. La novela es una colaboración a partes iguales entre el escritor y el lector, y constituye el único lugar del mundo donde dos extraños pueden encontrarse en condiciones de absoluta intimidad. Me he pasado la vida entablando conversación con gente que nunca he visto, con personas que jamás conoceré, y así espero seguir hasta el día en que exhale mi último aliento. Nunca he querido trabajar en otra cosa.

Paul Auster was born in New Jersey in 1947. After attending Columbia University, he lived in France for four years. Since 1947, he has published poems, essays, novels, screenplays and translations. He is the author of The New York Trilogy, Leviathan, Oracle Night, The Book of Illusions, and The Brooklyn Follies. Man in the Dark is his latest novel. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.