Haziran 2014, 15(1), 25-42.
New Directions in Contemporary American
Nonfic-tion
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Işıl Ö)CAN**
New Directions in Contemporary American Nonfiction (Calibri 9)
Abstract
This study explores contemporary American o fi tio s relationship to the twentieth century journalistic phenomenon of muckraking and to the more recent New New Journalism through a discussion of the acclaimed American novelist Ni holso Bake s sele ted o ks of o fi tio . Bake s nonfiction demonstrates serious and in-depth research, and in his refined, innovative treatment, investigative writing yields a narrative that is at once storytelling and ethical reflection as well as an expression of serious social, cultural, and political prob-lems. This study contends that Baker inherits a commitment to the artistry of journalistic investigation and that he redefines the art of nonfiction through his subjective and ethical journalism that is conveyed through a refreshing literary reportage.
Key Words: Nicholson Baker, Contemporary American Nonfic-tion, Digital RevoluNonfic-tion, Print Books.
Çağdaş A e ika Ku a a-Dışı Yazı ı da Ye i Yö eli m-ler
Özet
Bu çalış a çağdaş A e ika o a ısı Ni holso Bake ı kurmaca-dışı ese le i de i seçki i i ele e ek çağdaş A e i-kan kurmaca-dışı azı ı ile i i i üz ıl a aştı a ı gazete iliği e so dö e Ye i Ye i Gazete ilik akı la ı a ası da i ağla n-tı ku a a çalışı . Bake ı ese le i de gözle le e de i le e-si e i ele e e sofistike aklaşı sa ee-si de a aştı a ı
aza lık, ö e li sos al, kültü el e politik so u la ı i dele e-si i a ı sı a, hika e a latı ılığı e etik düşü e i i a a a gel esi ile e ile iş olu . Bu açıda değe le di ildiği de, Bake ı a aştı a ı aza lığı i sa at içi i ola ak i asaldığı ö e sü üle ili e aza ı su duğu e ilikçi a latı içi i ile kurmaca-dışı azı ı ı öz el e etik a aştı a ılık akı la ı da
e ide ta ı la dığı so u u a ulaşıla ili .
Anahtar Kelimeler. Ni holso Bake , Çağdaş A e ika Ku a a -Dışı Yazı ı, Dijital De i , Yazılı Bası .
1. Introduction
Although muckraking may seem a thing of the past and unconnected to the present historical
ju tu e s lite a p odu tio , it a offe a ef eshi g outlook fo the assess e t of o te p
o-a A e i o-a o fi tio s i estigo-atio o ie ted output. To ote iefl , u k o-aki g o-as o-a journalistic tradition of the early twentieth century. The works of the muckraker journalists, whose
i estigatio s of so ial p o le s, go e e t o uptio , a d o po ate i flue e, ha e ee
helpful i fulfilli g the tu -of-the-e tu p og essi e efo s Hillstrom, 2010). Broadly
speaki g, u k ake s e e jou alists a d u k aki g as the jou alisti o e e t that
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A e te ded e sio of this stud is i luded i the autho s do to al thesis titled Beyond Irony: The Cult of Sophisti-cation in Contemporary American Literature (2013) which was funded by DEU BAP No: 2009.KB.SOS.009.
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exposed social, political, and ethical problems in the United States and generated public support
fo ajo efo s du i g the fi st de ade of the t e tieth e tu Hillstrom, 2010). They were
i te ested i e posi g politi al o uptio , ist eat e t of o ke s, the plight of i igrants,
a d u a ise a d de a Hillstrom, 2010). Coined in 1906—in a disapproving tone—by
Theodo e ‘oose elt, t he o d is still used toda i efe e e to A e i a jou alists ho uncover evidence of corporate greed, government corruption, and othe la less ess Hillstrom, 2010. Lau ie Collie Hillst o a gues that although the A e i a edia u de e t sig ifi a t changes, investigative journalists [still draw] attention to some of the same issues that the muckrakers addressed almost one hu d ed ea s ea lie p. 96). For instance, she proposes Eric
“ hlosse s Fast Food Nation (2001) as the modern-day The Jungle (Sinclair Lewis, 1906) and considers the films of Michael Moore such as Bowling for Columbine (2002) as essentially muckraking.
Like Hillstrom, Robert Boynton, too notes that muckraking continues at present. Yet in his
o p ehe si e outlook, Bo to p oposes the e e ge e of a e eed of ite s i t e t
-first century whom he gathers under the rubric New New Journalism, a term that owes as much to
A e i a o elist To Wolfe s otio of Ne Jou alis as to u k aki g itself (p. 28. Bo to s brilliant argument in Ne Ne Jour alis : Co ersatio s ith A erica’s Best No fictio Writers on their Craft (2005) refines the understanding of early muckraking movement by connecting it to the impressive development of American literary journalism in the twentieth century. He also assesses the influence of Tom Wolfe and the scope of his New Journalism within the larger tradi-tion of American reportorial and literary journalism. Furthermore, his discussions tend toward a revision, or a better understanding, of the relationship between fiction and nonfiction, that is, the novels and reportorial or literary journalism of the last century in American letters.
Bo to s ook o p ises of i te ie s he o du ts ith i etee ite s hose o ks he
considers to form the New New Journalism movement. Among them are Gay Talese (b. 1932), Jane Kramer (b. 1938), Jon Krakauer (b. 1954), Lawrence Wright (b. 1947), Susan Orlean (b. 1955), Ted Conover (b. 1958), and Eric Schlosser (b. 1959). In his introduction to the book, Boynton provides a genealogy for this movement in two steps. First, he examines Tom Wolfe and New Journalism, and second, he looks at the historical and artistic development of journalism in
Ameri-a. I this a , Bo to posits a dual he itage fo Ne Ne Journalism (Boynton, 2005). New New Journalists inherit from Wolfeian New Journalism and its more refi ed p a titio e s the license to experiment ith fo Bo to , ). In point of fact, Boynton considers New
Jou alis a t ul a a t-ga de o e e t that e pa ded jou alis s heto i al a d lite a scope by placing the author at the center of the sto , ha eli g a ha a te s thought, usi g
o sta da d pu tuatio , a d e plodi g t aditio al a ati e fo s p. 12). He notes the works of Joan Didion, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, and Michael Herr as notable examples of New Journalism.
However, hile Wolfe s jou alis e ai s li ited to epo ti g su fa e details that d a
political conce s Bo to , . That is to say, their approach to society is not limited to status
a d thei pa ti ula app oa h to so iet o p ises a othe ethodologi al diffe e e: Co t a
to the New Journalists, this new generation experiments more with the way one gets a story. To
that e d, the e de eloped i o ati e i e sio st ategies … a d thei ost sig ifi a t innovations have involved experiments with reporting, rather the language or forms they used to tell thei sto ies Bo to , . Fo i sta e, Ted Co o e o k s as a p iso gua d … a d li e s as a ho o for two different books; Leon Dash, Adrian LeBlanc, and Jonathan Harries spend years doing research for their narratives (Boynton, 2005). In this way, while for Wolfe reporting
ea s ele tless a u ulatio of details that defi e a i di idual s status, Ne Ne Jou alis
reports the experience of reality, of the mundane existence (Boynton, 2005).
It is possi le to sa that Bo to s ele atio of the Ne Ne Jou alis s fo us o s u ultu es i ge e al, i po e ished su ultu es i pa ti ula p o es to e a e sig ifi a t
contribution to American nonfiction (Boynton, 2005). The writers of the New New Journalism
ie the dise f a hised ot as e oti t i es, ut as people hose p o le s a e s pto ati of
the dilemmas that vex America. There is an activist dimension in much of the New New Journa-lism, an element of muckraking and so ial o e Bo to , ). In this way, New New Journalism o p ises the lite atu e of the e e da , … d illi g do i to ed o k of o di a
e pe ie e, e plo i g hat Ga Talese alls the fi tio al u de u e t that flo s e eath the
st ea of ealit Bo to , . As Bo to e plai s, the o ks of the New New Journalists
a e igo ousl epo ted, ps hologi all astute, so iologi all sophisti ated, a d politi all
a a e p. 11).
They bring a distinct set of cultural and social concerns to their works. Neither frustrated novelists nor wayward newspaper reporters, they tend to be magazine and book writers ho ha e e efited e o ousl f o oth the legiti a Wolfe s lega has ought to literary nonfiction, and from the concurrent displacement of the novel as the most pres-tigious form of literary expression. When experimenting with narrative and rhetorical techniques, they conceive of themselves as working wholly within the nonfiction genre, rather than parsing the philosophical line between fact and fiction, as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote did with their nonfiction novels, The Armies of the Night and In Cold Blood. (Boynton, 2005)
I Bo to s opi io , the asi p e ises of Wolfe s Ne Jou alis e e esta lished a century ago. More specifically, Boynton locates the true flowering of New Journalism (that Wolfe
had i i d i the o k of the illia t jou alist Cha les Da a i the s: Da a s o t i utio
was to combine a focus on the everyday with a concern for vivid, well-written stories. For Dana, a newspaper story was itself an art fo p. 23). His newspaper, The New York Sun, i luded reporters like Jacob Riis, who wrote about the New York slums he had inhabited for seven years, which lent Su ’s journalism a u k aki g edge Bo to , . Indeed, the term New Journalism gained currency around the days Dana started practice as a widely deployed method in
journalism—muckraking on behalf of immigrants a d the poo Bo ton, 2005). Another
impor-ta t figu e, Li ol “teffe s, the it edito of the New York Commercial Advertiseri the s,
p oposed the e e ge e of a e ge e, lite a jou alis , gi i g fu the i po ta e to journalism (Boynton, 2005). Boynton e plai s, “teffe s ade lite a jou alis —artfully told narrative stories about subjects of concern to the masses—into editorial policy, insisting that the
asi goals of the a tist a d the jou alist su je ti it , ho est , e path e e the sa e p. 24). Around the time Steffens made his proposition, the novelist Stephen Crane was writing literary
jou alis i a e spape s. A o g his o te po a ies, C a e as o e of the est to put “teffe s s isio i to p a ti e as he ala ed the de a ds of literature and journalism in a manner that ho o ed oth Bo to , ). Soon, however, the prestige of journalism began to fade:
By the first decades of the twentieth century, the growing belief that newspapers should strive for objectivity left little room for literary journalism in their pages. Novelists [like Crane] were warned by Flaubert, Joyce, and others that writing journalism would harm thei fi tio , fu the di i ishi g jou alis s status i the lite a o ld. The o el g a-dually took on what [the historian of American literary journalism, John C.] Hartsock calls a ptotheologi al au a, a se se of i po ta e a d t a s e de e that jou alis ould e e at h. The fall, the , of jou alis —and by extension narrative literary journalism—from literary grace was largely the result of the invention of high literature in the ninetee th e tu , Ha tso k a gues (Boynton, 2005).
Whe Wolfe ha pio ed Ne Jou alis i the late s, the lite a hie a h as still
in the above order and he was reviving—whether consciously or not—a valuable, albeit suppressed, method. In the sense that Wolfe reversed an unfair hierarchy, he can be seen as a hero with regard to the revival of literary journalism in America and for paving the way for the
su essful ise of hat Bo to alls Ne Ne Jou alis . I Bo to s ge ealog , the efo e, e
find the basic premises not only of what he proposes with the term New New Journalism but listen to a valuable mini lecture1 on the interplay between fiction and nonfiction, the novelist and the reporter, in American literary history. As Boynton explains,
with their muckraking and intensive reporting on social and cultural issues, the New New Journalists have revived the tradition of American literary journalism, raising it to a more popular and commercial level than either its nineteenth- or late-twentieth-century pre-de esso s e e i agi ed. The pre-de ates o e jou alis a d lite atu e —between
su je ti e a d o je ti e epo ti g—weigh less heavily on this generation, freeing them to combine the best of both genres. Having done so without manifestoes or public debates, the New New Journalism has assumed a premier place in American literature (p. 30).
1
How to proceed, then, with the premises of New New Journalism in mind and arrive at an understanding of contemporary American nonfiction that seems to have as strong affinities with
the i estigati e jou alist s e e fo u o e i g t uth as ith thelite a jou alist s pe ha t fo
bathing the reportorial in the beloved terrain of storytelling without forsaking truthful
ep ese tatio ? I othe o ds, ho ould lite a jou alis s i li atio fo a tfull told a a-tive stories about su je ts of o e to the asses elate to the p ese t histo i al ju tu e s particular concerns that are conveyed through writing that manages to be both militant and muckraker-like, and ethically responsible and morally sensitive to large, albeit unkown, issues? (Boynton, 2005)
The nonfiction of the acclaimed contemporary American novelist Nicholson Baker seems to
e a ase i poi t i u de taki g su h i ui ies. I this light, the i po ta e of Bo to s a al sis
to this study is that a selection of Bake s o fi tio see s to ea si ila it ith Ne Ne
Jou alis Bo to des i es. Like the Ne Ne Jou alists tu to the su ultu es a d the impoverished, Baker turns to the ignored, the neglected, the disrespected, and the uncared for.
Like the Ne Ne Jou alists ethods of e te si e i e sio a d p olo ged esea h, Bake
spends very long periods doing research. What distinguishes Baker, however, is his topic, his actual subject, that comprises an unusual subculture that delineates an unlikely candidate for, or victim of, marginalization and reckless dismissal: libraries and books. In a series of magazine essays and a book regarding a major change in the library archiving systems that threatens to collapse
i ilizatio s print heritage, Baker reveals alarming fallacies and deceptions carried out on both governmental and local administrative levels. Working as a muckraker, he exposes the corruptions one by one; when his efforts are willfully thwarted, he exercises his legal right as a private citizen to be granted access to archives and goes to court. As a successful and acclaimed novelist, he revels in the literary possibilities of nonfiction and does not defer to a literary hierarchy that we observed above. Working dilige tl , sa ifi i g a ea s of his life to the ause of helpi g sa e the li a s print heritage, Baker narrates the story of the loss of the library card catalogs, the destruction of old and rare books and newspapers: this is a personal, an ethical matter for Baker. It is not possible for him to let the demise of the library go unnoticed, unknown to the public, deliberately obscured by authorities. Besides his ethical concerns, his intellectual powers are at top speed: Baker thinks, cares, and offers discussions on the philosophical and moral bases of preserving the library heritage.
It ould e g eat disse i e to defi e Bake s a hie e e t e plai i g a a his o ks as
Furthermore, the accomplishment of Baker also counteracts a dire situation in American letters: a pervasive anti-intellectualism. Many critics have recently been referring to a perceived sense of anti-intellectualism in America—mostly as a factor i lite atu e s di i ishi g i po ta e
u de the egati e i pa t of politi al fa to s. What a iti is a d theo do, W. J. T. Mit hell asks, to ou te a t the fo es of ilita is , u ilate alis , a d the pe petual state of e e ge
that is now the e pli it poli of the U.“. go e e t? … What good is i telle tual o k i the face of the deeply anti-i telle tual ethos of A e i a pu li life? p. 327). In a similar tone, novelist Raymond Federman remarks,
[i]t is a recognized fact that the United States is an anti-intellectual2 nation, a nation of pop culture, a nation that prefers easy spectacle to self-reflection, entertainment rather than art, and consequently it is difficult for writers not only to be taken seriously but even to have access to the sociopolitical arena. It is easier, in America, for a former foot-ball or basketfoot-ball player, or even a wrestler, easier for a second-rate movie star to be-come involved in the political process and influence the course of history than it is for a writer or an intellectual. The people of the United States distrust writers, especially when their work refuses to entertain—refuses to tell and retell the same old story the same old way. This raises crucial questions about the role of American writers in the face of the great changes that are taking place in the world today. In this sense one could say that American writers, as far back as the early colonial days, have always been Fallen Prophets. Whitman and Melville (certainly the two greatest American writers of the ni-neteenth century) were indeed Fallen Prophets (pp. 219-20).
The role of the American writer, as evinced in the literary activity (or should we say, activism) of Baker, would be to engage with whatever difficulty one sees through continued and responsible treatment. It is possible to say that Baker proceeds determinedly to clarify important issues that need to be clarified, to bring to light unknown but crucial facts of life, to invite the reader to care, to think, and feel morally responsible. His invitations are valuable because who could be a better example than the writer whose ethical and intellectual pre-eminence is both admirable and, as we experience while reading, delightfully contagious in that he makes us ask ourselves: What is life but the life of the mind that contemplates, cares, loves, questions everything about the human, and communicates these concerns? In some sense, Baker may even seem to be a revolutionary of sorts; championing human virtue, cautiously defending intellectual traditions, the (van)guard of the print culture, the forerunner, as it were, of a newly-emerging counterculture that tries to pro-tect our print heritage against some encroaching, devouring digitalism. In other words, the
signifi-a e of Bsignifi-ake s o fi tio thsignifi-at eds u k signifi-ake-like journalism with a New New Journalistic sensibility is that he reconfigures not only the scope, the form, and ambition of nonfiction based on reporting and narrating but also reinforces the need for the humanistic stance and the caring as
well as the daring moral courage of the writer for our contemporary world. In reading his nonfic-tion that deals primarily with the destrucnonfic-tion and transformanonfic-tion of centuries-old librarianship traditions, we bear witness, simultaneously, to a new direction in contemporary American fiction with regard to the function and mission of literature, and realize new vistas for the range any
lite a i estigatio ould t a e se. Put diffe e tl , Bake s eti ulous i estigatio s, his elega t
narration of the facts he learns, his fierce and dete i ed e posé of o uptio s, a d his determinedly ethical standpoint refresh our understanding of contemporary American nonfiction.
2. Nicholson Baker and the Counterculture of Print
As multifaceted as human civilization is, so are our attempts at simultaneously preserving and destroying it. The intellectual heritage of humanity stored in the archives of books and newspapers seems to come under severe attack since the mid-twentieth century, and it has an unlikely enemy
as Ni holso Bake de o st ates i his e posé of the o po atio al u de ell of the so-called
te h ologi al e olutio of the i fo atio age. Bake s u i ue i te est i a d de otio to e pl o-ring the ins and outs of this matter, and his innovative methodological approach to the subject at hand effortlessly demand attention and assessment.
I th ee pie es of o fi tio , Dis a ds , T u ki fo the Futu e , a d the
award-winning Double Fold:Libraries and the Assault on Paper (2001), Baker reveals how the trend toward information culture is turning libraries into centers of info-capitalism and turning readers and researches into customers. In the meantime, card catalogues are ruthlessly destroyed in the name of the—allegedly—progressive dictates of computerization; print archives of historical legacy, rare and out of print books, centuries-long runs of journals and newspapers, once digitized, are simply thrown out on the pretense that they have completed their life cycles. Baker reveals the unknown side of the library revolution in the mode of a muckraker whose primary obligation is responsibility to our print heritage. The wonderful novelist that he is, Baker easily grips the reader in his nonfiction through narrative coherency and masterful storytelling. The fact that Baker turns not to better known albeit ignored facts of our moral daily lives of social, cultural, or political signi-ficance but instead turns perhaps to the most silenced of all voices, that is, libraries, print books and card catalogs in the digital age, seems to become more important in its range and vision when
e a k o ledge Bake s o k o li a ies, ooks, a d a d atalogs as the p i e e a ple of a
new direction in contemporary American nonfiction.
The efo e, the follo i g a gu e t ai s to ead Bake s ad i a le lite a e ditio s of arduous investigative work on the plight of the print in the face of the digital as the assertion of a legitimate idea, or theory, if you will, on the ethical stance of the contemporary writer and the
ide ho izo s fo o te po a o fi tio su h sta e offe s. Bake s p a ti e, i othe o ds,
may comprise a theory for us: in his example, we recognize the inherent assumption of what non-fiction is to do, which is, represent reality in a highly subjective manner that remains the
well-defined, well-defended, and well-documented ethical bearing of a storyteller that knows how to be humanistic, universal, non-totalizing, non-dogmatizing, and just all at the same time.
To egi , i Dis a ds, 3
Baker discusses the dubious merits of the digital revolution libraries are undergoing, and the essay comprises a preliminary argument that Baker extends into book form in Double Fold. Almost all the information Baker presents derives from his interviews with the central agents of the revolution such as librarians of both administrative and clerical positions. He visits many university libraries, such as Cornell, Harvard, Berkeley, as well as digitization staff with whom universities entrust their entire card catalogues. He interviews library staff of all levels, investigates the transcription processes into microfilm from beginning to end, and reports his findings with the proper, verifiable documentations of names, places, and dates as well as the accompanying justifications of digitization wherever due. The essay opens with a scene of strange ado for a strange event: a university library celebrates its transition from the centuries-long tradition4 of card cataloging to online cataloging in 1985. The t-shi t of a li a ia eads, The G eat
Dis a d ; a othe li a ia e e o iousl u loads a d a e of a ds to a t ash a de o ated ith olo ed pape hile hu d eds of alloo s float ith a ds ha gi g from their strings (Baker, 1996. At a othe u i e sit , the a d atalog as e e o iall put out of its ise a offi ial who pointed a gun at it a d shot it Bake , . I et a othe u i e sit , a o k ake,
o plete ith eils, h s, a d flo e s is held fo the dis a ded li a a d atalogue
(Baker, 1996). Baker finds it interesting that cards should—or could ever—be disposed of with su h glee as the a ti uated i st u e ts of the past, lo g o e due at thei se i e, a d a uden on the library (Baker, 1996). Especially since what replaces them remains far from being good substitutes because the online library catalog, in its earliest phase in late-eighties and early-nineties is so inefficient and prone to mistakes that it only turns a faultless research system into one full of faults and misdirection.
The process of discarding requires that cards be microfilmed or transcribed into computer databases manually. After that, if possible, they are recycled as waste paper, or else, th o out (Baker, 1996. The u ial thi g is that i ofil i g is a lu u fe li a ies a affo d if the a e
ot fu ded ith fede al g a ts su h as Title II-C grants] and large p i ate gifts Bake , ). Therefore, card catalogues are mostly transcribed by corporations into computer database systems for considerable fees, and then, at the request of libraries, discarded, whether ceremoniously as we mentioned above, or by the digitizing company. OCLC, formerly Ohio College Library Center and now Online Computer Library Center, is the most functional corporation of the
i te atio al i fo atio i dust that li a ies t ust thei atalogs to be digitized with (Baker,
3 The essa as pu lished o igi all i the Ne Yo ke i , a d is olle ted i Bake s olle tio of essa s, The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber, to which this study refers.
4 The origins of card cataloging goes back to 1791, when the Fre h ‘e olutio a go e e t, ha i g o fis ated a number of private and monastic libraries throughout France, became curious to know what interesting books it sudde l possessed Bake , , p. . The p i a details of ea h ook e e itte o ordinary playing
1996, p. 129). In his frequent visits to OCLC, Baker realizes that OCLC takes its business very
serio-usl et e plo s staff that la ks asi t aditio al a d atalogi g edu atio , o as Bake alls it, the
intricacies of the cataloge s a t Bake , ). Well-lea ed i the li a ia s aft, Bake lists hat
a o pete t ataloge , t aditio al o o o pute ized, eeds to ha e full o a d of: the De e de i al s ste ; the “ea s List of “u je t Headi gs ; Cutte u e s ; the
a e iatio al i eties of the I te atio al “ta da d i liog aphi Des iptio I“BD fo at B a-ker, 1996). Chances are slim for the young, mostly temporary staff of OCLC working in tiresome shifts to have command of these systems perfected by decades of expertise and practice. The price the digitized catalog shall pay seems self-evident: conflation of author names, missing subject
headi gs a d otes fo “ee Also a d ‘elated “u je ts. Li a ies should e ai pape
e i o e ts, ot te h olog e i o e ts, Baker warns us (Baker, 1996). A greater warning
o es i T u ki fo the Futu e.5
When librarians notify Baker-the-library-enthusiast and the self-p o lai ed p ese atio ist, on some dire constraints San Francisco Public Library is going though, Baker embarks on a project that would become one of the best investigative journalisms in his career (Baker, 2012). Baker is not exactly a journalist let alone an investigative journalist. Nevertheless, the methods he employs when thinking about and researching a subject matter for an essay in progress, when combined with his intellectual and ethical zeal, may effortlessly produce unique works that connect him to the muckrakers of the past and the New New Journalists of the p ese t. I T u ki fo the
Futu e, Bake e eals the eal sto ehi d the ele t o i e olutio the li aies are undergo-ing (Baker, 2012).
In 1996, San Francisco Public Library, directed by Kenneth Dowlin,6 moves to a new handso e uildi g, a la ge g a st u tu e ith a hole i the iddle he e thesta ks should e (Baker, 2012). In the years leading up to the move which Dowlin himself proposes, the library, its holdings, and its function go through major changes, unbeknownst to many who would be concerned. Baker fills us on the details he has learned with great care and attention. To begin, the
sto of the o e, as Bake e eals, is o e of de eptio a d a ipulatio : The o st u tio of
the new library building] was financed with more than a hundred million dollars in public money: the voter approved this munificent bo d issue e ause the old li a , the e e told, ould t hold what it as asked to hold ). When, however, thirty-one librarians of San Francisco Public Library see the construction details of the new building, and with admirable insight and intellect, if not work ethic and personal moral responsibility, detect a grave problem: the space the
e uildi g p oposes ese es too little fo shelf spa e a d offe s a a u da e of floo spa e,
5 The essa as pu lished o igi all i the Ne Yo ke i , a d is olle ted i Bake s olle tio of essa s, The Way the World Works, to which this study refers.
6 The title of the essa is the at h ph ase of Do li s failed a paig fo the p eside of A e i a Li a Ass o-ciation in 1987 (Baker, 2012, p. 116). Also worth noting is that Dowlin is a former Marine Corps, and a part-time bookmobile driver before he ventures on the world of library administration, a very unlikely, or so it would seem,
o at iu spa e Bake , ). In their letter to Kenneth Dowlin, the library staff remind the
ad i ist atio of this u pleasa t fa t, a d e e go o to lai that the u e t pla fo the e
building is not meeting the needs set forth to voters to justify the e pe ditu e Bake , ). It takes four years for the library administration to heed the warnings. Prior to the move to the new
uildi g, the ad i ist atio o de s eedi g i haste, a outi e ut igila t, lo g p o ess i library practice, which means the careful selection and discarding of extra and unused, copies, or books damaged beyond repair (Baker, 2012). Not surprisingly, the care and expertise weeding requires is unheeded, too, and an incredible number of books is discarded to downsize the
li a s a hi e u til it fits the e uildi g.
While books leave the library in crippling numbers in trucks that come every other day, some
li a ia s sta t hat the all gue illa li a ia ship u til the li a o es to its se ses Bake ,
2012). They stamp due-dates on non-circulating books and rescue them from discard, they delay
o efuse to eed: the ha e sa ed thousa ds of ooks the sl , uietl t a sfe i g the f o
one department to another, hiding them in their lockers. They reintroduce these books when the
da ge has passed Baker, 2012. Bake s othe fi di gs p o e o less hea t eaki g a d ala r-ming. Upon exploring the new building, for instance, Baker discovers many librarianship routines other than weeding that are abused. Baker visits the otherwise restricted but now unsupervised staff-only book sorting room in the new library building. The customary way of sorting returned
ooks is to slid the do a hute i to the so ti g oo i plasti i s: a si ple, du a le
syste Bake , ). The new building, however, uses a oto ized o e o elt that pulls
the ooks do the hute o e at a ti e, a d he the ja , the get hu t. It s as if ou se t ou
clothes down to the luggage handlers in the airport without putting them in a suitcase. Hundreds of books have been torn and i ju ed this a Bake , ). What is more, this new sorting room lacks both the conventional shelves a sorting room holds and the staff responsible for shelving
the i the so ti g oo . As a esult, Bake o se es, at least fo t thousa d ooks currently
a ait eshel i g as the a e sta ked a elessl , i odd a gles, i diso de l sta ks o the floo s,
suffering from some more damage to their spines and covers (2012. The so ti g oo is like the
e ti e e li a , Bake o ludes, i that it has built into it a contempt for, at least an indifference to, literary cultue a d e ui e e ts ).
The card catalog of the library, as would be expected, never makes it to the new building, and remains at the old building and waits for the completion of full digitization before it is destroyed.
Li a ia s plead Bake to sa e the atalog a d Bake ag ee s to keep it i ta t Bake , ).
Fi st, he akes a fo al e uest u de the Pu li ‘e o ds A t to i spe t the a d atalog hoping
that the legalisti de a he ould la if the atalog s positio as pu li do u e t, a d te
m-po a il dela its dest u tio as su plus p ope t Bake , ). When his request is denied,
Bake sue s fo legal a ess a d ot o l is he g a ted a ess ut also the it s Li a
Co issio ote s to fi d a a to keep it Bake , ). Baker later makes another formal
e uest to e p ese ted ith the li a s Withd a al ‘egiste si e . I the e uest, he
(2012. The espo se to the e uest hi h tu s i to E hi it D Baker vs. San Francisco Public Library de ies su h o p ehe si e e o ds othe tha a list of ooks e o ed et ee 1995
a d . E e a stud of this poo list e eals assi e loss: a last opies a d ha d-to-find
ooks e e dis a ded, i ludi g o ks Mu iel “pa k, Goethe, a d Willia Dea Ho ells, the last op of a editio of Cha les Da i s The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants, and
a appalli g u e of esea h-level monographs i the s ie es Bake , ).
As part of his investigation, Baker spends a month crosschecking cards with their online catalogs and notices incredible lapses and absences in database entries. The digitization process, carried out by corporations and funded by government, is supposed to have been faultless since
its t ul e pe si e e pe t se i es ha e li uidated the li a s ge e ous sha e of the it udget.
Here is the crux of the matter:
The real story is about what happens—what to a greater or lesser degree is happening in a number of cities around the country—when telecommunications enthusiasts take over big old research libraries and attempt to remake them, with corporate help, as high-traffic showplaces for information technology. Such transformations consume un-forecastably large sums of money, which is why the [San Francisco Public Library] found itself … esse tiall oke, ith a o e-million-dollar deficit in its operating budget, its new building annotated and beflagged with the names of major benefactors who enab-led it, just barely, to open its doors (Baker, 2012).
These benefactors have complex relationships with libraries, and have curious plan with regard to libraries. To illustrate, Pacific Telesis Group is a corporate benefactor of San Francisco Public Library
a d it a ts to e o e a o te t p o ide i the g o i g fee-for-se i e i fo atio usi ess (Baker, 2012). The person that presides over this company provides the same services for the San Francisco Library Commission—an official position in the government—and believes in
i fo atio al o e ti it Baker, 2012. Like ise, Ke eth Do li , the it li a ia , has
pla s to tu the li a i to a tele o u i atio s utilit i stalli g his o e ote ele t o i a ess soft a e, a d if it is a epted, he otifies, I get fi e pe e t Bake , . Do li has
a point, it is a lucrative busi ess i deed: Last ea , the e t ep e eu ial “a F a is o Pu li Li b-rary] launched Library Express, a service that charged sixty dollars an hour to clients who needed, and could afford, a higher level of research assistance and document retrieval than the unpaying
pat o Baker, 2012). Lucrative, besides brand new, one should say: the function of the library is redefined and its services categorized and price-tagged accordingly, while creating itself a niche
a ket fo lie ts seeki g o te t.
way, some assert, of punishing dissidents by exiling them to branch duty (a charge the
administra-tio has de ied Baker, 2012). These anonymous rebels, or more possibly, heroes, of San
F a is o Pu li Li a elie e that thei li a as u de goi g a ki d of ai su ge a d as o e of the puts it, its EEG7is goi g flat
Baker, 2012).
Baker is deeply troubled with the loss of card catalogs and the discarded books, and we shall find him in Double Fold himself purchasing the card catalog of an entire library to save it from
dest u tio . His iti is of the li a s lai s to so-called space limitation in excusing discard of
ooks a d atalogs a also e o se ed i If Li a ies Do t Do It, Who Will?8
(2001), which is
Bake s o e o atio of the ope i g e e o of a e li a at Duke U i e sit . P aisi g
Duke University for their exemplary attitude toward storing and valuing books against the widesp-read national tendency to downsize library spaces through digitization, Baker reiterates his argu-ment from another perspective: The country is full of huge buildings; there are enough big
buil-di gs ese ed fo sto i g heese p odu ts, o t u k pa ts, o Happ Meal to s, o Pe tium
com-pute s that ill e s ap i fi e ea s o e e lau d Bake , . Autho ities, ho e e , i
f-late the ost of keepi g thi gs, a d the de ig ate the du a ilit of pape , e ause it s dist essi g
to them that it is so inexpensive to store what as lo g ago ought, ataloged, a d shel ed (Baker, 2012). Therefore, when it comes to the huge and ever-expanding collections of libraries,
e e effo t is ade at s ueezi g p i t ate ial i to i ofil s; i p essi e a ou ts of o e is
spe t o digital p oje ts that dou les o t iples the a tual sto age e pe ses li a ies ould eed (Baker, 2012. Li a ies a ot, p i iple, ope ate o efo atted ate ial; o a the t ust
usi esses a d o po atio s to a out a task of su h importance (Baker, 2012). Further, it is a paradox that keeping a book in a library costs the library much less than its digitization does. As in his previous essays, Baker is motivated as much through his love of and respect for books and belief in the importance of preserving them as with a desire to expose the corporationial and governmental forces at work in destroying an immense part of human civilization forever.
What e gli pse i Dis a ds, T u ki fo the Futu e, a d If Li a ies Do t Do It, Who
Will? ul i ates i Double Fold hi h is Bake s ost e te si e t eat e t of the topi i his decades-long struggle with raising public and private awareness with regard to the fallacies and deceptions of digital revolution. In thirty-eight short hapte s titled ittil , fo i sta e, It Ca Be
B utal, Dest o i g to P ese e, Di g , D ea , Dog-ea ed, a d Dead, the ook it esses a massive project of destruction in about three hundred pages. There is also an Index, References, and three high-quality reproductions of colored photographs of six richly illustrated newspaper
sp eads a d o e sheet s asto ishi gl u su essful i ofil i age, a d a Notes section that offers 257 notes for citations for the people and materials Baker quotes from. A work of immense passion, serious investigation and documentation, Double Fold brings Baker the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awardfor nonfiction in 2001.
7 Electroencephalogram, recording of electrical activity of the brain.
While e a fu the ead a out Bake s lo e-affair with the exquisiteness of books and
e spape s i essa s like The Timesi a d ‘eadi g the Pape , hi h a e
both collected in The Way the World Works, it is only in the Preface to Double Fold that we find the
o igi s of Bake s passio ate defe se of li a ies. I 3, the New Yorker commissions Baker for
a essa . Bake pla s to ite a ief, hee ful pie e a out the appeal of a d atalogues 2001).
I ega talki g to li a ia s a ou d the ou t , Bake e plai s, a d I fou d out that a d at a-logs were being th o out e e he e. I g e less hee ful, a d the essa g e lo ge Baker, 2001. This essa is Dis a ds that as dis ussed a o e, hi h ualified Bake as a li a
a ti ist i the e es of a li a ia s Baker, 2001).
Bake s o e t atio o a d atalogues i Dis a ds does ot i ediatel g a t hi the
awareness of a far greater catastrophe that Double Fold e eals. As he tells i T u ki fo the
Futu e, the li a ia s i “a F a is o ho plead hi fo help a tually tip him on the massive book-discarding policy of libraries. Double Fold is also based on the chasing of a lead. The events
Bake epo ts i T u ki fo the Futu e eates a sti9
in San Francisco and an old man named Bill Blackbeard informs Baker on further shocking news. What Blackbeard tells is so completely
sho ki g that Bake fails to o p ehe d
that the Library of Congress, the purported library of last resort, had replaced most of its enormous collection of late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century newspapers with micro-fil , a d that esea h li a ies e e el i g o hat Bla k ea d alled f audule t scientific studies when they justified the discarding of books and newspapers on the ba-sis of diagnosed states of acidity and embrittlement. (Baker, 2001)
Two years later, Baker begins investigating these leads and what is planned as another article for the New Yorker expands and turns into Double Fold.
One could argue that an ardent lover of books and literature who cherishes their material peculiarities and beauties to the point of obsession, a treasurer of literary culture who believes in the preservation of every bit of written history as much as possible such as Baker would not have been hard pressed to react in the way he did. He is so frustrated and desperate that he ends up writing extensively and diligently about the unknown controversies surrounding the deliberate destruction of the cultural and intellectual history of the country. At we witness in the above essays and as we shall see sho tl , Bake s ea tio s to iolatio s of ooks a d li a ies a ultimately point out his rightful mistrust on the ethical and intellectual judgment one would normally expect from experts and authorities on delicate matters.
Double Fold takes libraries to task for converting original print materials of historical value on a deceptive, if not completely untrue, hypothesis since 1950. Libraries and microfilm companies carry out aggressive propaganda on the imminent loss of nearly all old books and newspapers to
some alleged paper damage that they prove with unreliable tests. It is claimed that all paper made
of g ou d- ood pulp10 ill u le i to dust i the e ea futu e. The efo e, the a gu e t is on behalf of preserving print documents by microfilming them before their paper disintegrates (Baker, 2001). Baker cannot be convinced, because, intent on finding evidence of such disintegrating paper, his searches in the libraries yield no example of disintegrating paper.
Furt-he o e, tFurt-he e is o app o ed s ie tifi stud o tFurt-he life of pape : tFurt-he e has e e ee a lo g -term study that attempted to plot an actual loss-of-strength curve for samples of naturally aging
e sp i t, o i deed fo sa ples of a pape Baker, 2001). Yet, microfilming has to have some justification and the justifications have to be scientifically proven:
In the absence of real long-term data, predictions have relied on methodologically shaky a tifi ial agi g o a ele ated agi g e pe i e ts, in which you bake a paper sample i a la o ato o e fo a eek o t o a d the ela o it ith sta da dized tests. … But the results of these sorts of divinatory calculations, invoked with head-shaking gra-vity by library administrators, have been uniformly wrong, and they are now viewed with skepticism by many paper scientists. (Baker, 2001)
The ook s title efe s to o e of these tests he e the edge of a ook page is epeatedl folded from the exact same point until paper breaks from use. The fold test is specifically designed
to a ou e the o set of the apo al pse of pape a d the e to p o ote the dis a di g of
books, which was not to begin until the space-killing newspapers were sent away after microfilming (Baker, 2001, pp. , . A pa ti ula pie e of pape s su ess i the fold test d
e-te i es the u e s of ea s it a su i e i the li a efo e it disi e-teg ae-tes due to i he e t i e Baker, 2001). A typical folding test for a paperback book from the 1900s declares the most likely lifespan for that book as twenty-five years and microfilming is highly encouraged to preserve these imperiled books. Yet, in a couple of years after the fold test begins to send books and newspapers to discard, scientists prove that the fold test is unreliable, and for Baker it is nothing
ut a i st u e t of de eptio , al ost al a s of self-de eptio at the se i e of li a ies i te t on opening up space (2001, p. 146, 161). As a scientist clarifies, the fold test could only be used on paper whose usage requires that it be folded frequently by users and sometimes by design, such
as a k otes a d aps, a d a fold test o ooks ea s o ese la e to a tual use he e
readers turn rather than fold pages, and that this test cannot determine the endurance of paper, the necessity and urgency of microfilming, nor the discarding of books or newspapers (Baker, 2001).
Bake s pu pose i e eali g these see i gl al ulated pretenses is to take libraries to task for their deceptive reformatting and microfilming policies. For instance, the British Library of Lon-don, home to the biggest archive of international newspapers, has been suffering from storage trouble since 1996 and has ee id di g itself of illio s of olu es of the o ld s est
olle tio s. B ia La g, the li a s di e to , i fo s Bake that t he i te tio is that u s of e spape s fo hi h o ids ha e ee e ei ed ill e pulped Baker, 2001). The U. S. Library
of Co g ess eje t s e e thi g B itish li a offe s the , i ludi g p e ious a hi es of U.“.
newspapers, while the American Antiquarian Society accepts some collections that cover the Civil War era (Baker, 2001). Terrified at the idea of these newspapers being pulped, slashed down to
thei flakes a hi es, Bake hastil fo s a o -p ofit o po atio si e a p i ate itize cannot bid on library discard auctions, and rents a warehouse with his personal savings (2001). Via his non-p ofit A e i a Ne spape ‘eposito o po atio , Bake sta ts iddi g o the B itish
Li a s dis a ds. G a d as his effo ts a see , the ha e a i disputa le atio ale:
If American libraries had been doing the job we paid them to do, and innocently trusted that they were doing, over the past five decades—if they had been taking reasonable ca-re of our communal newspaper collections rather than stacking them in all the wrong places, and finally selling them to book-breakers or dumping them in the trash outright (an employee of one Southern library recently rescued from a Dumpster, and success-full esold to a deale , a u of Ha pe s Weekl o th te thousa d dolla s —then the B itish Li a s de isio to au tio off illio s of pages of u a life, although it would mark a low point of cultural husbandry, would not have been such a potentially disast-rous loss to future historians. Fifty years ago, after all, there were bound sets, even do-uble sets, of all the major metropolitan dailies safely stored in libraries around the Uni-ted States. (Baker, 2001)
Intent on making public the grandiosity of this loss, Baker belaboriously lists all the major libraries and the collections they have discarded on the way to becoming depositories of microfilmed versions of these documents.
The role of government policies turns out to be surprisingly supportive of this destructive policy, if not outrightly encouraging. For instance, the National Endowment for the Humanities has been carrying out a specially funded U.S. Newspaper Program since 1985. The purpose of the project is, first, to catalogue U.S. newspapers as much as possible and second, to convert these
e spape s i to i ofil . The p og a has gi e li a ies a out fo t -five million dollars in so-called preservation money—a d ze o dolla s fo sto age spa e Baker, 2001). In fact, the program
akes o e ui e e t that li a ies a tuall p ese e, i the ph si al se se of eshel e, their originals after they have been sent out for federally funded filming. The effect of all this [National Endowment for the Humanities] microfilm money has been to trigger a last surge of discarding, as libraries use federal preservation grants to solve their local space problems. Not since the monk-harassments of sixteenth-century England has a government tolerated, indeed stimulated, the methodical eradication of so much pri-mary-source material. (Baker, 2001)
li a ies a hi es. “o ethi g to this effe t has take pla e i Bosto Pu li Li a he e the li a s u ato of i ote ts a d e spape s, Cha les Lo gley and the city Librarian Philip
M Niff ha e o ked togethe ot o l to p ese e the it li a s olle tio s ut also sal aged e spape s f o a o g Ha a d s dis a ds Baker, 2001). The opposite example has been
o se ed i T u ki fo the Futu e i Ke eth Do li s so-called revolutionary administration. It is sad to note that the positive example of Boston Public Library is limited to a few other efforts
a d esides thei e o e ies, the a ihilatio of o e a essi le olle tio s of ajo daily papers
of the late i etee th a d t e tieth e tu ies is p ett lose to total Baker, 2001). This, in
Bake s opi io , is othi g o e tha the i te tio al e asu e a ou t of its o histo
destroying its permanent records and replacing them with their barely mediocre replicas.
Bake s fo us o e spape s is espe iall i po ta t e ause as the p i a ta gets of the
destructive operation of microfilming, they lose all their authenticity. He does grant microfilm its practical use and does not object to it in principle. Nevertheless, at least in 2001 when Baker writes the book, high-resolution image scanners were not available and black and white microfilming was at its best an average means of converting the vast sheets of newspapers heavily and vividly illustrated along with other non-reproducible features. As he explains,
the microfilming of old newspapers (which contain many thousands of woodcuts, by the way, not to mention Easter-egg cutouts, paper dolls, dress patterns, and illustrated sheet music) has, right from the beginning, been intimately linked with their destruction. The disbanding of every volume in order to speed production and avoid gutter shadow (the middle area of an open volume, where the pages turn down toward the binding, a re-gion harder to light and keep in focus) has long been the preferred method of newspa-per microphotography in the United States (2001).
No doubt the disbanded pages were not rebound; they had to be destroyed to be preserved, as it were, because of the ever-imminent paper disintegration as well as the grave problem of space (Baker, 2001).
Taki g the A e i a Li a of Co g ess spe iall to task, Bake o de s, h , o e a ts
querulously to ask, is our national library so often in the throes of spa e isis? Baker, 2001).
Bake is dis ou aged to oti e that a ea of dail pape ould fill fift -two volumes and occupy
less tha half the Ba ie aisle i a To s ‘ Us 2001). Somehow, however, Library of Congress
se-e s to fi d it ha d to do hat a stse-eadil g o i g o se-e —a successful pet-food discounter, say, or a distributor of auto parts, or a museum of sculpture—manages to do year after year,
ithout fuss Baker, 2001. It is a p o le of ill, he o ludes: li a ia s ha e lied sha
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, although technology has advanced to a point of perfection in terms of online
a d digital a hi i g, Bake s iti is s o li a s dis a d poli ies should be considered as the reasonable worries of a humanist. As Geoffrey Galt Harpham writes,
[h]umanists operate on a human scale; they treat their subjects not as organisms, cells, or atoms, nor as specks of animate matter in the vast universe. Nor, for that matter, as clients, patients, customers, or cases. But as self-aware individuals conscious of their existence. Humanistic knowledge is centered in texts (in the broadest sense of the term) produced by human beings engaged in the process of reflecting on their lives. At the co-re of the humanities is the distinctively human capacity to imagine, to interpco-ret, and to represent the human experience (1995).
Harpham sounds uncannily right when we consider his words within the context of our enga-gement with te h olog , o i Bake s defe se of the p ese atio of the li a , a d the li a s preservation of the archives of human history.
Baker uncovers corruption or misconduct regarding a very specific issue and his particular tre-atment of the intricacies of the so-called digital revolution lends his investigation-based narrative an ethical bearing that broadens the social and political reach of contemporary nonfiction. In this
se se, Bake s o fi tio dis ussed i this stud de o st ates se ious a d i -depth research, and in his exquisite conduct, investigation turns into a narrative that tells stories, performs ethical
ref-le tio , a d offe s a ealisti a ati e. Bake s a hie e e t, although it a e uilt o the methods of other traditions, creates completely new opportunities for the American writer who is ethically bothered by some crucial social, cultural, and political problems, who is intellectually willing and competent to undertake a rigorous, meticulous, and extensive discussion and analysis
of his o he topi . I this se se, Bake s o ks sig al a path fo the ite ho feels o pelled to
respond to and raise consciousness for urgent but overlooked and dismissed facts. In a final analysis, it is possible to say that Baker turns nonfiction into an endeavor that addresses ethical questions in an intellectual manner. Above all, as a novelist, Baker affirms the function and mission of nonfiction to accumulate details of real life, narrate them in their unadorned factuality without succumbing to scientific objectivity but rather through subjectively foregrounding the social, cultural, and political significance of each fact he observes and reports.
References
Baker, Nicholson. (2001).Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. London: Vintage.
Baker, Nicholson. (1996).The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber. New York: Random.
Baker, Nicholson. (2012).The Way the World Works: Essays. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Federman, Raymond. (2008). Critifictional Reflections on the Pathetic Condition of the Novel in Our Time. In Berry, R. M. and Jeffrey R. Di Leo, Eds. Fictio ’s Prese t: Situating Contemporary Narrative Innovation. New York: State U. of New York P., pp.219-220.
Harpham, Geoffrey Galt. (2005). Beneath and Beyond the "C isis i the Hu a ities , New Literary History. 36: 1, pp.21-36.
Hillstrom, Laurie Collier. (2010). Defining Moments: The Muckrakers and the Progressive Era. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics.
Lynch, Beverly P. (2003). ‘e ie of Vandals in the Stacks?: A Response to Nicholson Baker's Assault on Libraries, Libraries and the Academy. 3:3, pp. 527-528.
Michael, John. (2000). Anxious Intellects: Academic Professionals, Public Intellectuals, and Enlightenment Values, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press Books.
Mitchell, W. J. T. (2004). Medium Theory: Preface to the C iti al I ui “ posiu , Critical Inquiry. 30:2, pp.324-335.
Orr, Patricia. (2002). Review of Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper ,Technology and Culture. 43:4, pp. 835-837.
Pavelka, Karen. (2002). Double Trouble or More: A Response to Double Fold ,Libraries & Culture. 37:3, pp.249-255.
