Message for the future... The Time Travelling Fire Brigade

Image from Wikimedia

As I'm sure is the same for most people on this course (all hopefully), I see any instance of book burning as a tragedy. And by book, I mean any text. Whether the burning of personal correspondence in Victorian England (1) or large-scale book burning rallies under the Nazi regime, it is a tragedy. I say this because the act is of a much larger problem than the destruction of the text. As it was so succinctly predicted Heinrich Heine (whose own books were burned during the Nazi regime):

 “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen."
"Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people." (2)

There are enough instances of important books being saved from burning to indicate that there is proven value in the survival of these texts, even if the author does not see it. Max Brod famously ignored Franz Kafka's urging to burn his works (3). In a tragically ironic turn, Brod's own written works were alter burned by the Nazis (4). Rimbaud allegedly attempted to Burn all printed copies of his own work, "A Season In Hell." However, they survived, although apparently, Rimbaud's literary executor wanted the found copies to be burned to "give the appearance of truth." (5) But not everything he wrote survived. I can't put my hand to the reference, but allegedly Rimbaud’s sister destroyed the poet's final verses written on his deathbed. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is an obvious touchpoint on this subject. Ironically, even that text was not immune to partial destruction; the book was censored for consumption by younger audiences (6).

Image from Wikimedia

 So, if I were to travel through time with the sole ability to tell people one thing about books, it would be to not burn them, or to have a conversation about what they were afraid of if the text continued to exist. Ideally, the time machine would allow me to travel with large amounts of water, so I could do the extinguishing. I find it difficult to pick one instance, so I am opting for a Quantum Leap-style arrangement when I get to save a different text each week. I just need the interactive hologram of a friend to assist.

Image from The AV Club

I would continue to allow the all-encompassing notion of text that has been so prevalent in this course to continue in my work. I would visit the sites of music destruction: from the burning of Beatles records in 1960s Alabama (maybe I should just go back and tell John to say they were not quite as big as Jesus?) to the Demolition Night  burnings of the Disco Sucks! era. This last affair, while seemingly frivolous and trivial contained torrid undertones of racism and homophobia (7).

Perhaps it is hopeful to think that if I prevented the accidental burning of the library at Alexandria, there was knowledge held within those works which would have lead societies to reject the practice of book burning.  Perhaps I need simply say to Caeser: “Don’t burn that fleet!”

Image from ancient-origins.net

1.“Letters in London: Communication and Correspondence in the Nineteenth-Century City,” http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/letters/evans.html.

2. “Book Burning,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852.

3. “Reading Group: What If Kafka’s Books Had Been Burned? | Books | The Guardian,” https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/oct/14/reading-group-what-if-kafkas-books-had-been-burned.

4. “Max Brod,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,  https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008072.

5. “Arse Poetica,” The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/11/17/arse-poetica.

6. “Fahrenheit 451,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fahrenheit_451&oldid=753416872.

7.  Ben Myers, “Why ‘Disco Sucks!’ Sucked,” The Guardian, June 18, 2009, sec. Music, https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jun/18/disco-sucks