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Copyright 1999, 2000 by Michael Ward
ABSTRACT: THE END OF BOOKS
London. Bibliophiles and scholars, inspired by a lecture at the Royal Institution, in which the eminent physicist Sir William Thompson discussed the life and death of the sun, convene after the lecture at a gentlemen's club and discuss what they think the future will hold.
James Wittmore considered the rise and fall of continental powers. Julius Pollok predicted the futures of foods and the eradication of hunger; a green Eden that humorist John Pool laughed at as contrary to the rule that one must devour or be devoured. Arthur Blackcross decried the miserable state of current painting and sculpture, but predicted that in the future it would become great, done by a small number of talents, with color photographs and photoengravings satisfying the masses.
But what of the future of books? The narrator argues that Gutenberg's invention will soon disappear. Reading causes lassitude and wearies us tremendously. Words through the speaking tube, however, give us a special vibrancy. The gramophone will destroy printed works. Our eyes are easily damaged, but our ears are strong.
But, his listeners object, gramophones are heavy and the cylinders easily damaged. This will be taken care of; new models will be built which will fit in the pocket; the precision of watchmaking will be applied to them. Devices will collect electricity from the movements of the individual, which will power the gramophones.
The author will become his own editor. In order to avoid imitations and counterfeits, he will deposit his voice at the Patent Office. Instead of famous men of letters, we will have famous narrators. The art of diction will become extremely important. The ladies will no longer say that they like an author's style, but that his voice is so charming, so serious, that he leaves you full of emotion after listening to his work: it is an incomparable ravishment of the ear.
The libraries will be become phonographoteques. They will house famous works by artists in vogue, such as Coquelin's performance of Moliere, Irving's Shakespeare, Salvini's Dante, etc. Bibliophiles will become phonographophiles, and collect cylinders with the unique example of the voice of a Master of the theater, poetry or music, or those with new and unknown alternate versions of a famous work. Narrators will do comic pieces, sound effects, and dialects like Irishmen and American Westerners.