Books in literature?

[lodalach]

What is the role of the book (as a physical item, as part of our lives since it became accessible to everyone, as a "concept") in books? And in what novels do you think one or more books have a relevant place in the plot?

Book as an everyday item has entered our lives with the introduction of cheap editions (and, going further back in time, with the invention of press); I think this fact is reflected in the increasing presence of books -either real books that became so popular they deserved a place in other books(I'm thinking of all the gothic novels that people Austen's Northanger Abbey or books such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Sorrows of Young Werther etc) and fictional books (such as the poisoned book in Eco's The Name of the Rose or Goldstein's The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism in 1984).

What novels that you've read feature a book as part of the plot?

[kiki1982]

I think that largely depends on the writer...

Libraries also have to do with this.

I once saw a PHD-dissertation (Bibliotheca in fabula) that argued on the basis of Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose (I think; among others) that libraries and books are a symbol for wisdom in literature. Indeed, Swift's battle of the books could be read that way.

In that respect, Mr Thorpe in Northanger Abbey declaring he has no time for reading novels is rather displaying his own stupidity than his wisdom which he would like to spread vigourously. On the other hand, Mr Henry Tilney is then much the wiser because of his love of books, displayed in his study. Darcy also, now I come to think of it, has a large library and declares that a woman can improve her mind by reading. Elizabeth Bennet likes to read, but, alas, Caroline Bingley never touches a book or picks it up because it happens to be the second volume of Darcy's. Emma too can't set her mind to any book. we all know how wise she was...

Also Jane Eyre gets some of that, but more in a dark way. Rochester locks his books up, Jane is only allowed to read some and Ingram notably takes up a book and puts it down again after a short time.

But I think it probably depends on the writer for a general idea about 'the book' in his work. Emily Brontë's WH for example, has a sternly reading Joseph, but he gets none the wiser. Nor Heathcliff, although he read much in his teenage years. Edgar Linton has a library, but I don't think is much of a light of wisdom.

Though, titles of books, plays, poems and other texts are often a give-away as to the meaning of the author. Even if the author puts his character in his text reading a certain book unconsciously, often there is a message in it. Though it can range from profound ideas to just funny things.

[Lokasenna]

Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone immediately leapt into my mind. One of the main characters treats Robinson Crusoe with sacred reverence, using it as one might use a Bible: flipping it open at random pages to find inspiration and comfort, quoting passages of it at people, and reading it every night. Though this is supposed to be comic, Collins is making an astute point about relying on a single work for spiritual support.

The character in question, Gabriel Betteredge, actually comes across as a wise and likeable old soul; certainly, when he is later contrasted with a mad, waspish Bible-bashing old spinster, he is certainly the nicer person by far.

[Panglossian]

War is War by Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai has a *fictional* book which is central to the plot. The protagonist unearths a manuscript of "startling truth and beauty" in a library archive and becomes obsessed with it, reading excerpts to anyone who will listen. If I remember correctly the manuscript [the book within the book] tells of four time travellers who are pursued around the globe by a mysterious other.

[Veho]

Is there not a fictional non-fiction book in 1984 or am I making things up? It's been a while since I read it.

[lodalach]

That's exactly what I thought, the author chooses to put a certain book in the hands of a certain character as a means of characterization - either positive or negative.
Northanger Abbey was actually the novel that inspired me this idea, how the fact that a character as vile and offensive as John Thorpe considers novels trivial makes the reader automatically classify him as a "bad guy" (which in fact he is). Therefore the defense of the novel. In Pride and Prejudice there's another example of this, Mr.Collins perpetually vexes everyone with Fordyce's Sermons!
Literary taste of the author are surely mirrored in those of the main characters:)

I've never read The Moonstone, but that's again what I meant with popular books that enter the collective imagination:)

[FrancoisG]

In "The shadow of the wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a book has a central place in the story.

And all the books are the heart of "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.

[Jurt]

In every novel by Chaim Potok I have read, books have an important value maybe because the protagonists are Jewish.

[Heteronym]

Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller is all about books.