Books, more than an essential commodity

Le Regard Libre N° 69 - Jonas Follonier

The current crisis, tragic in many ways, brings with it some interesting controversies.. One of the most exciting debates of recent weeks has been the importance of books in people's lives. The theme came to the fore when the French government decided to close bookshops for the second confinement - I write «second» not «second», because there is room for optimism. Quite rightly, booksellers took offence at this measure, noting that FNACs and other supermarkets selling books were still open.

A furor ensued when the French government, «in the interests of equality», announced the closure of book sections in supermarkets rather than the reopening of bookshops. For many, myself included, this news sounded absurd. Reopening the bookshops would have been in keeping with the State's «concern for equality», of course, and would have enabled them to postpone the prospect of their economic demise. But leaving bookshops open while other establishments are forced to close implies a shocking and, it has to be said, inherently unequal argument: that a book, unlike other products or services, is an essential commodity for human beings in our societies.

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However, the question of whether books are essential goods, which seems to be quickly settled in the course of a discussion, can turn out to be a very complex one. If we wish to speak, to quote Descartes, «clearly and distinctly», in other words, to know exactly what we mean, then we must first define what an essential good is before we can say whether the book is one or not.

If an essential good is one without which a human being could not live, or even survive, in other words a basic necessity, then a book is not one, given all the people on Earth who have never opened a book. If, on the other hand, an essential good is one that enables Man to fulfill himself, to make use of some of his faculties, then the book has a good chance of being an essential good, at least more than a decoration for a garden gnome.

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But if books are defined as essential goods for these reasons, what about plays, concerts and other art forms? Should we leave all cultural venues open, on the pretext that culture is a fundamental good? The fact is, these institutions don't always reach a wide audience. So there's a risk in talking about culture as a «catch-all notion, which seems to mean ‘intelligent leisure reserved for the elite‘’, to quote Alexandre Lacroix on social networks. As he points out, this perception is just as dangerous as the opposite one: that of bookshops as non-essential businesses, which condemns reading to being no more than a pastime.

Books can't be summed up as just another hobby, or as food for culture lovers. Books are first and foremost a tool for learning to read and write. And not just to read and write other books, but all the texts in our daily lives! It is the very material of the school. It's an extension of the body, the primary support of life.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com