Fictitious vol. 18: Format fetishism

Commuters - an art project, on reading everywhere and every way, news in Nigerian Pidgin

Hello! Happy to have you here, no matter if you’re a veteran reader or a recent subscriber. In this issue, I’m introducing a new project I’m working on, updating you all on the Ray Bradbury Challenge and talking about the impact format has (or maybe doesn't?) on reading.

The impact of the reading medium

You have probably seen that cheesy video of a professor showing his class a $20 bill, crumpling it and asking if they still wanted it. They all did. Something among the lines of “it doesn’t lose its worth, no matter what you do.” I even found the video for you (viewer discretion advised, cringeworthy content ahead):

Now, my parallel with how we read stuff (paperback/hardback/Folio edition/computer screen/Kindle/ketchup on the wall) might be a stretch, but hear me out. Don’t you think that the written word should 100% convey the same message no matter the medium? Or are the layers added by the medium and format play an important role in the way we understand and interpret texts?

Take haiku as an example. By breaking up a sentence that follows the 5-7-5 syllabic structure into three lines, we acknowledge it as being poetic, artistic, and worthy of marvelling at. Here’s a haiku I generated with Poem Generator (a great tool to play around with on a Sunday):

Funky timberland
where a common, quick frog plays
above the mushroom

It might be nonsensical, but the way it’s presented elevates it slightly above the mushroom mundane. Without the deliberate line choice, “Funky timberland, where a common, quick frog plays above the mushroom” becomes just a clunky sentence fragment.

And breaking the text up into lines is just one way we can affect the format. Font choice is another. Although the message is the same, the two examples above somehow “feel” differently.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Fonts make a difference. A rather stale advertising slogan can be funked up with typography and a passage from the Qur’an made even more beautiful by calligraphy. And we perceive things written in Comic Sans to be less serious, even if it’s an obituary:

So, if such minute details can change our perception of textual information, can the thing we’re reading the text on do that as well?

Since I started the Ray Bradbury Challenge (reading 1 story, 1 poem, 1 essay every day) a few weeks ago, the question of “How to read X?” or “Where can I find Y?” have become everyday concerns. Do I download the article/story as a PDF, change it to EPUB in Calibre and send it to my Kindle? Do I print it out? Do I just read it on my laptop or even phone screen? Or do I hunt down the only collection where this particular piece ever appeared in print?

Surprisingly, the difference in experience is not that significant. I don’t seem to get a special kick from touching old paper. At the same time, my scratch-ridden phone screen doesn’t seem to devalue the poems read on it. Sure, it’s more convenient to read a longer piece on my Kindle than on my cumbersome Lenovo laptop. And yes, I’d probably be more excited seeing an article of my own published in a nice printed journal than on some portal peppered with banner ads. But I wouldn’t join the camp of strawmen claiming that “e-books are sub par” and “nothing can replace the smell of an old book”, even if that camp had cookies.

Pondering the question of format, I remembered the many different ways I read things growing up.

• My old Pentium 166MHz + CRT monitor. I read the entire Lord of the Rings + Silmarillion saga hunching over my outdated battle station. I also used it to write my Douglas Adams fan fiction.

• Photocopied and DIY bound books. Carlos Castaneda was considered to be a wise and inspirational author in my rather secular household. His books were hard to get in the early 90s, so my mom photocopied and bound all of his major titles. Wasn’t the most convenient way of reading but, as the Russians say, “when there’s no fish, crayfish will do”.

• WAP via my Motorola Slvr phone. Before the advent of smartphones, certain models could already connect to the Internet via the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP, not to be confused with the 2020 song, best enjoyed in Ben Shapiro’s voice). I read entire cyberpunk novels on the 4-line screen. Much better than paying attention in Geography class.

Would have reading Tolkien in a nice Folio edition left a stronger impression on me? I highly doubt that. But when the Reddit mods of one sub where I tried to shill my short story said that I should copy-paste it into the body of the post instead of linking it, I was aghast. That would totally devalue it!

And what about you, dear reader? What’s your take on reading forms and formats?

Commuters - an art project

Every day, we pass hundreds of folks, way beyond Dunbar’s number. It’s easy to ignore strangers, view passers-by as NPCs and not notice the many quirks people exhibit. Commuters is a new and ongoing art project, exploring what happens when we start recording the people we see in public. I will be adding more short observations in the next few months. My goal is to have it published as an artsy book/booklet/zine. You’ll find the first instalment here:

Commuters - an art project

Ray Bradbury Challenge

So, how did the first week of your Ray Bradbury Challenge go? Thank you for asking, it went well. It was a bit chaotic (as was the second week I’m yet to document), but next week I’ll be upping the organisational aspect of it, and using a spreadsheet to track all the amazing recommendations I get. For a full review of week 1, go here:

Ray Bradbury Challenge 21/3000

The language corner

BBC Pidgin. I have always been fascinated with creole languages, and the way languages merge and morph across the world. That’s why I keep returning to BBC Pidgin (online since 2017), a version of the British news outlet in Nigerian Pidgin. Here’s one example of a news item that any English speaker can understand:

Ales Bialiatski wey be human right advocate for Belarus, Russian human rights organisation Memorial  and di Ukrainian human rights organisation, Center for Civil Liberties gbab di Prize for dia efforts to document "war crimes, human rights abuses and di abuse of power".

Dem be di joint winners of dis year Nobel Peace Prize

Di Nobel Peace Prize dey awarded everi year to a pesin, or pipo, wey don work to benefit humankind.

Word of the week. CHOP. In Nigerian Pidgin, chop means food. So, according to this British Council post (which has more Pidgin vocab), 'You don chop up?' means 'You are prospering or have put on some weight.'

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