VALLEJO Irene.
Infinity in a reed. The invention of books in Antiquity.
The Beautiful Letters
Regular price
€23,50
| N° d'inventaire | 24002 |
| Format | 15.5 x 22.6 |
| Détails | 538 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251452210 |
“The love of books and reading breathes through this masterpiece. I am absolutely certain that it will be read even after its current readers have passed on to the afterlife.”
Mario Vargas Llosa
“Vallejo wisely decided to break free from the academic style and embrace the storyteller’s voice. The story is not treated as a list of works cited, but as a fable. Thus, for any curious reader, this charming essay is accessible and moving in its simplicity because it is a tribute to books by a passionate reader.”
Alberto Manguel
When were books invented? How did they survive the centuries to find their place in our bookstores, our libraries, and on our shelves?
Irene Vallejo invites us on a long journey, from the battlefields of Alexander the Great to the Villa of the Papyri after the eruption of Vesuvius, from the palaces of the sulphurous Cleopatra to the torture of the philosopher Hypatia, from the concentration camps to the Sarajevo library in the midst of the Balkan War, but also in the sumptuous collections of illuminated manuscripts of Oxford and in the treasure trove of words where poets of all nations are gathered. Thanks to her formidable talent as a storyteller, Irene Vallejo takes us on a journey strewn with revolutionary inventions and tragedies from which the books have always emerged stronger and more enduring.
Infinity in a Reed is an ode to the immense power of books and to all those who, for generations, have been aware of it and have enabled the transmission of knowledge and stories. Storytellers, scribes, illuminators, translators, street vendors, monks, spies, rebels, adventurers, readers! So many people whose history has rarely kept track of them but who are the true saviors of books, the true heroes of this age-old adventure.
Mario Vargas Llosa
“Vallejo wisely decided to break free from the academic style and embrace the storyteller’s voice. The story is not treated as a list of works cited, but as a fable. Thus, for any curious reader, this charming essay is accessible and moving in its simplicity because it is a tribute to books by a passionate reader.”
Alberto Manguel
When were books invented? How did they survive the centuries to find their place in our bookstores, our libraries, and on our shelves?
Irene Vallejo invites us on a long journey, from the battlefields of Alexander the Great to the Villa of the Papyri after the eruption of Vesuvius, from the palaces of the sulphurous Cleopatra to the torture of the philosopher Hypatia, from the concentration camps to the Sarajevo library in the midst of the Balkan War, but also in the sumptuous collections of illuminated manuscripts of Oxford and in the treasure trove of words where poets of all nations are gathered. Thanks to her formidable talent as a storyteller, Irene Vallejo takes us on a journey strewn with revolutionary inventions and tragedies from which the books have always emerged stronger and more enduring.
Infinity in a Reed is an ode to the immense power of books and to all those who, for generations, have been aware of it and have enabled the transmission of knowledge and stories. Storytellers, scribes, illuminators, translators, street vendors, monks, spies, rebels, adventurers, readers! So many people whose history has rarely kept track of them but who are the true saviors of books, the true heroes of this age-old adventure.
Mario Vargas Llosa
“Vallejo wisely decided to break free from the academic style and embrace the storyteller’s voice. The story is not treated as a list of works cited, but as a fable. Thus, for any curious reader, this charming essay is accessible and moving in its simplicity because it is a tribute to books by a passionate reader.”
Alberto Manguel
When were books invented? How did they survive the centuries to find their place in our bookstores, our libraries, and on our shelves?
Irene Vallejo invites us on a long journey, from the battlefields of Alexander the Great to the Villa of the Papyri after the eruption of Vesuvius, from the palaces of the sulphurous Cleopatra to the torture of the philosopher Hypatia, from the concentration camps to the Sarajevo library in the midst of the Balkan War, but also in the sumptuous collections of illuminated manuscripts of Oxford and in the treasure trove of words where poets of all nations are gathered. Thanks to her formidable talent as a storyteller, Irene Vallejo takes us on a journey strewn with revolutionary inventions and tragedies from which the books have always emerged stronger and more enduring.
Infinity in a Reed is an ode to the immense power of books and to all those who, for generations, have been aware of it and have enabled the transmission of knowledge and stories. Storytellers, scribes, illuminators, translators, street vendors, monks, spies, rebels, adventurers, readers! So many people whose history has rarely kept track of them but who are the true saviors of books, the true heroes of this age-old adventure.