I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land {novella}

An author accidently discovers "Ozymandius Books", a repository containing the last copies of every book in the English language that, through flood, fire, war, neglect, "deacquisitioning", etc. have become completely lost to the world -- even one of your favorites from childhood.

The author protagonist's cynicism turns to curiosity, then nostalgia, then to wonder, and then -- when he leaves and cannot find the repository again afterwards -- desperation and, ultimately, melancholia.

For book lovers, this is a horror story.
And the allusion to Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandius" (one of my personal favorites) is apt and poignant for what it acknowledges about human arrogance in our accomplishments inevitably undone by Time:

"... And show more on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
-- Ozymandius, Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818. show less

Rating: A solid, sincere 4* of five

I encountered this tale in a Kindle-sale email and thought, "I've never heard of this one! Off I go to see..." and of course I *have* read it as I recalled as soon as I ogled the terrible cover. I bought it, it was a whoppin' 99¢ and even *I* can blow a buck, to re-experience the story.

If Jim existed in real life, and his blog...Gone For Good...was a real blog, I'd be all over it. The idea of a blog based on the argument that losing obsolescent things/processes/products is a Good Thing (in the old-fashioned Martha Stewart sense) stirs my Old Testamentness and makes me long for someone to bash into the dust with the Absolute Rightness of my refutations.

Jim is taught the error of his ways in this brief show more novella, and in a satisfying manner. I would sell your mother, dear reader, into a life of horrifying cruel servitude to be admitted to Ozymandias's Books. (My own mother is dead, therefore unsuited to the purpose of exchanging things of value. Otherwise, well, bye Mama.) Connie Willis has written two books I've liked, this one and [Inside Job]; I think she's got some good story ideas but was turned off by her too-frequently arch storytelling voice. (See [To Say Nothing of the Dog] for the apotheosis of this issue; I was panther-screeching outraged by the thing.)

So understand this about my four-star rating of this tale: It is like a narwhal, real but so freaky to see in actual factual reality that it could spawn myths of unicorn-mermaid hybrids. show less

This story resonated with me on so many levels. What happens when the last copy of a book is lost? While some might think of this short novella as preachy, I found myself hoping it were true. As a retired librarian, I know far too much about weeding, about the abuses books can suffer, about the many ways books can be lost.

It may not be for everyone, but I loved it. For book-lovers who also enjoy fantasy.

Willis has something important to say here about how easy it is for books to be irrevocably lost even in the age of ebooks, but the way she says it is off-putting; I kept expecting her to tell me to get off of her lawn. Also, if what she writes here is any indication, she has little knowledge of how libraries actually work and scant respect for librarians.

It showed up in my feed from Richard, and I immediately downloaded a copy and immediately read it, because I love Connie Willis' writing that much.

Now I have to go back and see what Richard thought. It's very sad, not quite Last of the Winnebagos sad, but heading that way. There are a tremendous number of books that no one wants [right now], and I don't expect anyone to try and save everything. But today I finished a book I haven't read in 47 years, and being able to remember enough to hunt up a replacement copy is just a little bit magic. It isn't necessary to preserve all the books: just the ones anyone might ever want to take a peak at.

And yes, I am full of the irony of the Amazon Kindle system which permits me to buy a text, but to show more only enable me to keep a copy as long as I own a dedicated reader, and as long as Amazon is able and willing to keep giving me access to it.

Not having to store or carry hundreds of books is a boon, but it's very strange to spend money on books as ephemeral as leprechaun gold.

***

2 April 2023

I had completely forgotten this story, and then Richard's review popped up in my feed, so I had to read it again.

Personal copy show less

There was a special kind of magic here, one that I absolutely could identify with. Books are treasures and must be valued and appreciated. Real life can't always work like this though, and I felt that this book really drove the point home.

I would have loved for the book to be a little longer or to have a sequel, but maybe that would change the effect the book has on readers.

What's there is well written, but a hallucinogenic visit to the a storage area for books of which no copy remains isn't really a story, just a sort of cautionary tale.