“The book was sent to me and because books and doors both need to be opened, I opened it. A book is a door; on the other side is somewhere else”.
Jeannette Winterson
I like how this quotes suggests that Ms Winterson feels compelled to open a book. If they arrive within her orbit, then they must be opened.
I am imagining that they don't just sit there piling up on a shelf or by the bed without having been glanced at, if not actually read.
I imagine a little rifle through; a glance at the opening lines; flicking pages and checking out some dialogue perhaps, scanning the chapter headings? And then they may well go into a pile, but they must, at the very least, be opened.
I like that.
Clearly the symbolism is simply that they are openings. That books, when opened, lead you somewhere else and what lies within them (as with a door what lies behind or beyond it) cannot be determined without opening it and moving through it.
Sadly, you can't absorb books by osmosis or by simply reading the back and front cover, although a times I have wished for just that!
Opening a book does indeed lead you somewhere...
Jeannette Winterson
I like how this quotes suggests that Ms Winterson feels compelled to open a book. If they arrive within her orbit, then they must be opened.
I am imagining that they don't just sit there piling up on a shelf or by the bed without having been glanced at, if not actually read.
I imagine a little rifle through; a glance at the opening lines; flicking pages and checking out some dialogue perhaps, scanning the chapter headings? And then they may well go into a pile, but they must, at the very least, be opened.
I like that.
Clearly the symbolism is simply that they are openings. That books, when opened, lead you somewhere else and what lies within them (as with a door what lies behind or beyond it) cannot be determined without opening it and moving through it.
Sadly, you can't absorb books by osmosis or by simply reading the back and front cover, although a times I have wished for just that!
Opening a book does indeed lead you somewhere...
I have always wanted to know where this door leads; what lies behind it...at Sandside Beach near Reay.
ah the magic of books and doorways remind me of the power in a hinge and this favourite quote from Lewis Hyde in 'Trickster Makes this World', "he (Hermes) is the god of the hinge … the mottled figure in the half light … who amazes and unmazes…"
ReplyDeleteooh what a great quote and what a great connection to the power of the hinge - so true!
DeleteMuch has been said and written about "The Overstory" by Richard Powers ... having read a library copy a couple of months ago, I have already forgotten most of it, except for recalling that it did indeed transport me to "somewhere else"
ReplyDeleteSo I have purchased a paperback copy to own ... the better to step into it again and again ... perhaps making notes along the way to making it part of me
That's so interesting Liz - I have the sense of many a book and then if it lingers and nags, I will do that too - purchase one and make notes to make it part of me and me of it!
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