One of my students, Julie Young, recently lent me her beautiful copy of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, by F Scott Fitzgerald, to read. It was a classic case of being seduced by book production and title - because I have to admit, Fitzgerald is quite near the top of authors I've tried but am not keen to try again....but this little volume, by Scribner, shows how bibliotherapy is not just the text itself. This is a softback book, but with inside flaps and wonderfully tactile cover (silky in feel), and the pages are a deep cream, rough cut, with wide margins. The act of reading was a pleasure, and the text itself, which (sorry, Julie!) would have left me cold and untouched without its perfect packaging, went down with little murmur of protest. The story would be whimsical if it wasn't so bare: like a fairystory without the room to create imaginative contexts, it felt quite ruthless. There was an unease here: the author felt present, watchful, but withdrawn, and I couldn't shake the sense that this was a carelessly written piece. I enjoyed the film much more, as this did give visual resonances to the very sparse prose. However, I have loved the book itself, as an object, and have also enjoyed looking at Scribner's website, which is correspondingly beautfully laid out. Scribner is an imprint of Simon and Schuster, and has an amazing literary pedigree. Well worth more research, in the future...!
Thanks for giving it a go Sam. I am slightly disappointed you found the prose so cold, this gives me little hope in transforming you into a Fitzgerald fan! Perhaps give 'The Beautiful and Damned' a chance and you may, just yet, change your opinion about his writing. I am in full agreement how beautifully bound it is, and it is interesting to consider how the read for you was made more enjoyable by the feel and look of the cover! Certainly says a lot about the physical presence of a novel, even if you find the content disagreeable.
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