I have written earlier about what ought to be seen as a genuine book and what usually is not.
I write these words wearing swimming goggles for my spectacles have become a part of the ocean (more on that later). In doing so, I am robbed of the ability to read and thus my treasured morning ritual of reading a few pages before going out into the world remain moot.
In an odd situation like this, the value of audio books most manifests itself.
The Audacity of Pretentiousness
It truly beats me how often in a moment of snobbishness, elements of society reject certain mediums and genres purely because they may best help its fringes and minorities.
In the case of audiobooks and the contentious hot-take that listening is not really reading (ignoring the immense value of oral narratives), it may not even matter to discuss the quality or literary merit of audiobooks.
The very fact that they could aid a visually-challenged person to relish the richness of literature and the joy of stories and knowledge alone ought to make it an accepted and celebrated medium.
The World as Human
Last week as I was reviewing a research paper of mine with a senior professor, she pointed out my tendency of using human terms to describe the non-human. In the case of the paper, it was to do with the betrayal of a river due to pollution. A little later in this post, you will encounter the phrase “staid bench”, where a human personality trait is used to describe a bench. This tendency is known in academia as anthropomorphism.
Gaiman masters this in Sandman, with Death, Dream, Delirium, and Despair all filling the cast of human-like Endless. While this move may appear unique to a Western audience, the Eastern pantheon of gods is populated by such figures.
How Form Dictates Content
I often tell my students to pay attention to form and how it shapes content (This post by Amit Varma imitated this conversation). A classroom shaped as a circle with movable chairs will lead to a starkly different lecture to one with staid benches and archaic rows, even if the same stakeholders are involved all round.
In the case of Sandman, the stories of Dream and Death (Gaiman at his anthropocentric finest), the difference between the comic books and audio book is stark and delightful.
Here too, it is one shrugged aside medium- the comic book (as an Indian born in the late 90s generation, Tinkle and ACK were my introduction to reading too) which is also an ignored less-appreciated genre, sees itself being adapted to the audiobook.
Regardless, I urge you to lose yourself in the world of Morpheus and Death- read it, hear it, or await the Netflix series as I am.
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As a bonus, I recently lost my spectacles while having fun with the waves at sea. Here’s the poem I made as a result, staying true to “Make Good Art”-
Ode to a Gentle Wave
Hi
Said the wave
as it robbed me of my sight.
They say
the
beach
is breathtaking.
In my case
it
was
specs-tacular.
Mr Keats
had a vision
on the beach.
In my case
vision
was
out
of
reach
Oh well
I
can
do nothing.
I am glad
totally not glum nor sad
for now
the sea
can
see.
-NKD