Death of the novel

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Published on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 11:08

Written by Geri McMeekin

Image: michael.currin.co.zaWho would have thought that hundreds of thousands of novels, from the classics to teen romances, would be able to fit into something smaller than a magazine? It seems impossible, yet the Kindle is now taking the literary world by storm.

But what will happen to all the books? Will our rich, expansive libraries be reduced to computer stations? And will no-one miss that “old book” smell, and the feel of pages that have been turned by innumerable people over
the years?

If the answer from the modern world is a resounding “no,” then consider the historical implications of reducing books to museum artefacts or decorations in the local Slug and Lettuce. What we leave to our children will shape the minds of the future, and the amount of technology by which we are surrounded today also directly correlates with the increasing health problems that arise. Obesity, brain tumours and carpal tunnel syndrome are all products of the overuse of technology.
The rise of the Kindle has become so pervasive that even the bedtime story is at risk – turning the pages of a favourite picture book may soon be reduced to staring at another screen. We call this development, but the previous age was so much more enriching. Reading a book is supposed to be a pleasure, not something that needs to be made easier
through technology.
It is understandable that the Kindle is much lighter to carry around than the ton of books that one may want to constantly have in their bag. Surely, though, the real thing is so much more satisfying? To turn the final page of a novel and know that reading it was an experience, a journey which allowed the reader to be transported somewhere where the radiation from the technology surrounding us does not exist and our lifestyles are not threatened.
Some lecturers at UCT are now using Kindles for their lecture notes; helpful, because entire lectures can be put onto the device and the lecturers do not have to be concerned with printing everything out. Practical, yet as Imraan Coovadia from the English department has noted, technology is slowly but surely taking up all of our time.
 “Mostly I worry that technology takes over our attention and leaves very little for books.” says Coovadia, “Books are good at filling empty space and empty time, but email, twitter, and Facebook are even more effective and simply pre-empt the possibility of reading. It’s actually good to have empty time, an empty soul, an empty mind, because that’s the beginning and sometimes the end of all wisdom. The web makes too sure that we’re never empty in that way.”
So forgo the lighter, “easier” Kindle, and experience the real thing. Books are important. Readers should not feel that the experience of reading needs to be updated or altered in any way, the act of reading is an escape. We do not want to birth a generation of people constantly seeking a way out from something that isn’t difficult in the first place; we need to be challenged in order to grow.