Requiem for the Age of Print – ‘Dublinesque’ by Enrique Vila-Matas

If all creative work is shared by everyone in our new world of streaming, who will make sure that the lone individual, perhaps not the slickest salesman on the block, will get credit and a fair monetary share for his or her creation whether it be a piece of music, art, or literature?  

‘Dublinesque’ is a novel for excessively literary people like me.  It is filled with quotes and stories about famous writers, and the nice thing is that the allusions are meaningful to the severe plight of the central character of ‘Dublinesque’ himself.  They are not just to feed the author’s ego. One soon realizes that Enrique Vila-Matas is an impassioned reader of other writers’ works

The first-person protagonist of ‘Dublinesque’, Samuel Riba, ran a small company that published literary novels for thirty years until it went under.  Now he spends nearly all his time in front of the computer.  He fears he has become a ‘hikikomori’ which is a Japanese word for those young people who suffer from autism in front of the computer and avoid outside pressures by withdrawing completely from society.  His wife is concerned for him.

 “Sensing that it won’t be long before her dear autistic husband goes and sits in front of the computer, she tells him that people who regularly use Google gradually lose the ability to read literary works with any kind of depth, which serves to demonstrate how digital knowledge can be linked to the recent stupidity in the world.” 

 The age of print is over; we are streaming into the new digital age.  In order to overcome his own isolation, this ex-publisher decides to hold his own funeral for the Print Age.  What better time and place to hold the funeral for the Print Age than in Dublin on Bloomsday, June 21, the day so famously depicted in James Joyce’s Ulysses?  The ex-publisher invites three of his writer friends, all of whom he previously published.

A little over two years ago, the ex-publisher, an alcoholic, had a catastrophic drinking episode almost causing his wife to leave him.  He hasn’t had a drink since.  Imagine the temptations for an ex-drinker in going to Dublin to celebrate Bloomsday.

That is the setup.  The story is told in an offhand friendly way.  A requiem for the Print Age might not be your idea of an exciting plot but it is for me.  Some of the writers who come up frequently in the story are Gustave Flaubert, Samuel Beckett, Paul Auster (even Siri Hustvedt gets a mention), Peter Handke, and Fernando Pessoa.   This book caused me to return to the poetry of Philip Larkin.  ‘Dublinesque’ is a lovely poem by Larkin about a funeral for a prostitute.  You can read it here.

The death of the age of print?  I have my own concerns about the streaming world which I suspect are shared by most people who appreciate creativity.  If every creative work is shared by everyone, who will make sure that the lone individual, perhaps not the slickest salesman or businessman on the block, will get credit or a fair monetary share for his or her creation whether it be a piece of music, art, or literature?   We have entered a new age, but that does not necessarily mean it is a good new age.  Do you have concerns?

For the appropriate kind of person, me, ‘Dublinesque’ is a wonderful book.