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Library of the Afterlife
Oct. 29th, 2020 11:31 amApparently John Cleese wants to be buried along with all his unread books:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/books/review/john-cleese-by-the-book-interview.html
I wonder how that would work. Would there be a John Cleese Cryptic Memorial Library that people could actually visit? Specially sculpted bookends with hollowed-out interiors, each holding a teaspoon or so of his cremated remains?
More likely, I suspect, is that everything would be permanently encased in a very large coffin under Mount Cleese, entirely closed off from public viewing by those of us above ground.
I guess that's fine if you believe in an afterlife and can picture him living on in the underworld, happily enjoying his books. But we're a long time dead. Surely he would run out of reading material sooner or later?
For librarians and archivists keen to preserve our documentary heritage for posterity, it's a little depressing to think of somebody hoarding away the books he never had time to read, preventing anyone who COULD realistically enjoy them from doing so! Perhaps the family could compile a list of books being buried and maybe even retain digitized copies of some of them, particularly the ones that are out of print or utterly unique.
As I mull over how I could better organize my own personal library, I'm thinking about devising some annotations to explain why a few select books are particularly important to me or why they might be of particular interest to key people still here after I'm gone.
At my mother's final digs in a retirement residence, she only had room for one small bookcase. And yet, sometimes less is more. In a weird sort of way, I felt I gained a better understanding of her after she was gone, just from the limited choice of books she kept with her to the end.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/books/review/john-cleese-by-the-book-interview.html
I wonder how that would work. Would there be a John Cleese Cryptic Memorial Library that people could actually visit? Specially sculpted bookends with hollowed-out interiors, each holding a teaspoon or so of his cremated remains?
More likely, I suspect, is that everything would be permanently encased in a very large coffin under Mount Cleese, entirely closed off from public viewing by those of us above ground.
I guess that's fine if you believe in an afterlife and can picture him living on in the underworld, happily enjoying his books. But we're a long time dead. Surely he would run out of reading material sooner or later?
For librarians and archivists keen to preserve our documentary heritage for posterity, it's a little depressing to think of somebody hoarding away the books he never had time to read, preventing anyone who COULD realistically enjoy them from doing so! Perhaps the family could compile a list of books being buried and maybe even retain digitized copies of some of them, particularly the ones that are out of print or utterly unique.
As I mull over how I could better organize my own personal library, I'm thinking about devising some annotations to explain why a few select books are particularly important to me or why they might be of particular interest to key people still here after I'm gone.
At my mother's final digs in a retirement residence, she only had room for one small bookcase. And yet, sometimes less is more. In a weird sort of way, I felt I gained a better understanding of her after she was gone, just from the limited choice of books she kept with her to the end.
