Timur Luchin, American Studies, gr 1

In his essay entitled The premature obituary of the book. Why Literature ?, the essayist, writer and
college professor Mario Vargas Llosa dwells upon the role and importance of literature in our life. He does not
agree with the widespread conception that literature may be dispensable activity. The author sustains the idea
that literature has played an important part in the development of human language, culture, manners and
sensitivity. Moreover, fiction as opposed to reality enables the reader to perceive the truths of real life. In his
opinion, a piece of fiction is able to produce changes in society and as an example, Mario Vargas Llosa mentions
Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin, a mediocre book (in his view) which sensitized the American
public when published in 1852, not long before the Civil War broke out.
Another point of the author is the pleasure of reading. He does not accept the idea that the book in its
classical form should be obsoleted. One famous person who supports the idea is Bill Gates, whose highest goal,
as he declared, is to put an end to paper and then to books. Bill Gates regards the traditional paper books as
anachronistic objects that should be replaced by computer screens. Another argument of his is that using
computers will save humanity thousands of acres of forests. In reply, Mario Vargas Llosa avers that literature is
strongly associated with books and paper. And I personally cannot but agree with the author, since my first
reading experience was the paper book. Like him, I appreciate the pleasure of reading such great authors of
world literature like Sophocles, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rabelais, Melville, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Proust, Kafka,
Orwell, Baudelaire and others on printed paper (!) Even if the book is provided in electronic form, I will print it
out entirely or part of it. And it is common practice for me to print out on paper poems of famous authors or even
to write them on paper with a pen. That makes reading more useful and productive.
The habit of reading literature in paper format is strong. In my personal view, reading paper books makes
the process of reading active in that the reader interacts with the text: highlights, underlined words and
statements, notes on the margins. The habit of reading makes the individual better, i.e. sensitive, mannered,
elevated, thoughtful. Reading good books develops the good taste and thinking. Without paper books people
would degrade into illiterate brutes (ignorant person), whose top literacy would be just the net lingo.
With his essay, Mario Vargas Llosa eloquently proves that literature and the paper books are still relevant
today.