A bookseller who works for a big bookselling chain told me the other day that today’s bookseller has no role other than finding a book for the customer and taking payment for it, a bit like a fruit and vegetable seller.
So what’s the problem with this simple solution?
Categories.
For example Eisenstein on the Audiovisual is placed in the Eisenstein section of the bookstore.
So what’s wrong with that?
There’s also another section in the bookshop under the heading FILM SOUND.
Eisenstein wrote more about the audiovisual than any other film director, and in
Eisenstein on the Audiovisual I explore his ideas on using film sound and film music, in a word, on the audiovisual.
But you’ll never find this book in a film sound, or even in a film music section.
Why?
Because the AUDIOVISUAL hasn’t yet been devised as a category that is worthy of study.
And it is also because someone in an office somewhere checks on their computer and decides that Eisenstein on the Audiovisual goes into the FILM DIRECTORS section in the chain of bookshops.
As the author of this book, what can I do?
I can quietly take my book from the FILM DIRECTORS section and place it in the FILM SOUND/FILM MUSIC section.
But on my next visit to the chain bookstore, it’s not there any more: it’s back in the FILM DIRECTORS section.
Effectively this means that Eisenstein on the Audiovisual will only be bought by someone who knows in advance that it’s a book about the audiovisual - it’s not primarily a book about Eisenstein, but it’s about his ideas and practice with regard to innovative combinations of music, image and sound!
Eisenstein wrote about the audiovisual for those who make films, not for those who just want to read about his life (he wrote his autobiography Immoral Memories for that purpose, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find that book in the FILM DIRECTORS section anyway).
But I think he would probably also be disappointed (but perhaps not surprised) that his explorations of the audiovisual, which he wrote for practitioners, doesn’t even make an appearance in what should be called the AUDIOVISUAL section of the bookstore.
So how about having a copy of Eisenstein on the Audiovisual in both the FILM DIRECTORS section, and another copy in the FILM SOUND/FILM MUSIC section?
No, that’s conceptually invisible.
This is the reason I set up www.ocatilloaudiovisual.com/the-audiovisual-series.html (the audiovisual series).
So what’s the problem with this simple solution?
Categories.
For example Eisenstein on the Audiovisual is placed in the Eisenstein section of the bookstore.
So what’s wrong with that?
There’s also another section in the bookshop under the heading FILM SOUND.
Eisenstein wrote more about the audiovisual than any other film director, and in
Eisenstein on the Audiovisual I explore his ideas on using film sound and film music, in a word, on the audiovisual.
But you’ll never find this book in a film sound, or even in a film music section.
Why?
Because the AUDIOVISUAL hasn’t yet been devised as a category that is worthy of study.
And it is also because someone in an office somewhere checks on their computer and decides that Eisenstein on the Audiovisual goes into the FILM DIRECTORS section in the chain of bookshops.
As the author of this book, what can I do?
I can quietly take my book from the FILM DIRECTORS section and place it in the FILM SOUND/FILM MUSIC section.
But on my next visit to the chain bookstore, it’s not there any more: it’s back in the FILM DIRECTORS section.
Effectively this means that Eisenstein on the Audiovisual will only be bought by someone who knows in advance that it’s a book about the audiovisual - it’s not primarily a book about Eisenstein, but it’s about his ideas and practice with regard to innovative combinations of music, image and sound!
Eisenstein wrote about the audiovisual for those who make films, not for those who just want to read about his life (he wrote his autobiography Immoral Memories for that purpose, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find that book in the FILM DIRECTORS section anyway).
But I think he would probably also be disappointed (but perhaps not surprised) that his explorations of the audiovisual, which he wrote for practitioners, doesn’t even make an appearance in what should be called the AUDIOVISUAL section of the bookstore.
So how about having a copy of Eisenstein on the Audiovisual in both the FILM DIRECTORS section, and another copy in the FILM SOUND/FILM MUSIC section?
No, that’s conceptually invisible.
This is the reason I set up www.ocatilloaudiovisual.com/the-audiovisual-series.html (the audiovisual series).
