Returning to our last discussion in class, turns out
that a visit in a book fair this week proved the two collector types which we
mentioned can occur for one individual. Both the 'multiple books collector' and the 'single unique
book collector' if to feely title the two collecting types for the sake of distinction
between the two. In my case, I started
that morning charging over the fiction/science-fiction section English books, piling
up until ending up with approx. 25 used-though-decent-shaped books. By the way
the fair was for donation purposes, all profits were to be used for the local
community center. So anyway I was leaving with literally a full box, considering
myself once again qualifying for the 'multiple books collector,' thinking of
all the new books which will now add up to my already existing collection,
knowing that some I will probably read only in a few years ahead from now, and
some perhaps never at all. All in all, I was very pleased. The thing was, that
only later that day, after closely re-arranging the new lot carefully in a bag just
before heading back home, it suddenly hit me that one book was apparently left
out from my pile (it must have fallen aside unnoticed). I was amazed by this
discovery since above all the ones I collected, this one felt the most significant.
It was The Jason Voyage –The Quest for the Golden Fleece by Tim Severin
(1985), and the only reason I would even remember it at all out of a sudden was
that I was discussing it on the fair, about how we just mentioned the Mythology
quest of the Golden Fleece and the conference session mentioning Madea etc., so
it seemed interesting to have a look in this New Argonauts voyage and so very
relevant for our Moby Dick voyage. So you could imagine my shock and disappointment
once I realized it was gone.
My natural dilemma at that moment was that
even if I return to the fair, what were my odds to re-find this single less
than 300 pages (i.e. not one of the thick ones) piece among 20,000 books?! Nevertheless,
as a good old fashioned obsessive book collector, naturally I just had to take
my chances and decided to return once again to the fair. It took me about half
an hour, and on the very last box I assigned myself for re-checking (I had a
tight limited time schedule now due to we had to get back to pick up the kids),
the Golden Fleece was found at last. Ironic or what?! On the drive home, I remember
concluding this incident as one of the most realistic prof of a contemporary class
I believe I ever had, thinking here I was a 'multiple books collector' in the
morning, and a 'single unique book collector' in the evening of the same day.
Quite the one-day-metaphorical-voyage I should say, maybe it's time for me to return
boldly to Ulysses.
Curiously enough, the above personal experience
got me thinking also of Amy Kaplan's essay which we also discussed in class
this week, "Transnational Melville." Kaplan mentions that Knowledge in Moby Dick
"crosses oceans, ships, and race; it is channeled thorough class
hierarchies…" (Kaplan 44), and later on that "the threat of environmental
catastrophe should make us feel part of a global community with a shred concern
for the planet…" (Kaplan 51). Of
course these are significant high statements and quite the macro-cosmos concept
in terms of global human relations, having nothing to do with the experience I just
told. Yet, I still find it interesting, that after I found the missing book, I
was so excited (probably not so much by now from the book itself, but from
avoiding the disappointment notion of not finding it) that I shared my
enthusiasm with the two elderly nice women who volunteered at the fair, one
Israeli and one was coincidentally an American retired History school- teacher
(turns out he was also a writer, him and his wife who was left abroad). Once
they heard about my context and finding the desired novel, their enthusiasm in
return was so genuine it felt as if the success was also their own. So in
relation to Kaplan, for once, Knowledge seems indeed to cross oceans, since it
was Moby Dick which has brought me the crave for putting an extra effort
for finding that unique book, a book which for itself will provide a new future
knowledge for me (since I've never read it). Secondly, although of course my
experience was not about a catastrophe as Kaplan discussed, but I believe in a
micro-cosmos it can be considered to be about communal sharing and relations,
local and foreign. The nature of the fair, the kind of reactions of the volunteers,
truly warms the heart and inspiring.
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