Journal articles on the topic 'Library Art Club'

The article describes the activities of the Publishing Club of the State Historical Public Library of Russia. There is highlighted the Club Meeting of January 27, 2015. The article presents the new book of «Art-Volkhonka» Publishing House.

Abstract Pioneering print collector and curator, Samuel P. Avery (1822–1904), donated a collection of 17,775 prints, including works by Cassatt, Whistler, Turner and Manet, to establish the Print Collection of the New York Public Library in 1900. Prior to his donation, Avery curated print exhibitions at the Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grolier Club, and Union League Club. Through an examination of Avery’s persistent efforts to exhibit exemplary prints in museum and gallery settings – including an unusual collection of prints by women – this article provides evidence that Avery’s ground-breaking curatorial efforts led to the institutionalization of print display in New York.

The decree of the President of the Russian Federation declared 2019 as the Year of Theatre. Libraries traditionally participate in promotion of theatre art, provide their places for plays, hold art meetings, organize theatre clubs, and use theatrical tools in club activities to hold public events. The article objective is to identify and characterize types, forms, orientation, and specifics of cultural, educational, and leisure activities implemented by the central universal scientific libraries of the Siberian Federal district (SFD) as part of the Year of Theater. 10 central libraries were chosen to be analyzed: Altai Regional Universal Scientific Library named after V. Y. Shishkov (Barnaul), Irkutsk Regional State Universal Scientific Library named after I. I. Molchanov- Sibirsky, State Scientific Library of the Kuzbas named after V. D. Fedorov (Kemerovo), Krasnoyarsk Regional State Universal Scientific Library, Novosibirsk State Regional Scientific Library, Omsk State Regional Scientific Library named after A. S. Pushkin, National Library named after M. V. Chevalkov (Gorno- Altaisk), National Library of the Tuva Republic named after A. S. Pushkin (Kizil), National Library named after N. G. Domozhakov (Abakan), Tomsk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after A. S. Pushkin. The source bases of this study were public plans and reports of libraries, news and events reports posted on the official libraries websites. The theatre topic reflects itself in preparing various libraries exhibitions, chronographs publications, organizing meetings with culture and arts figures, clubs work, organizing competitions, cultural and educational events and projects, holding festivals. Sociocultural event “Library Night 2019” aimed at supporting reading was a bright manifestation of the “Library + Theater” union. Libraries used the following forms of events: performances, concerts, lectures, master classes, exhibitions, excursions, quizzes, competitions, playgrounds. The events held during the Year of Theatre varied in content and combination of traditional and new forms; had strongly marked book and reading popularization; were oriented on different age groups, interactive; used many multimedia products. Although the chosen forms of the events are alike, the fact that each library has its unique content based on local history makes special cultural and leisure activities of every library.

The article is devoted to the human-geographical study of the basic network of cultural institutions of the Ternopil city territorial community. The parameters of the territory and settlement network of the community are considered, which are the determining conditions during the structuring of geospace. The legislative principles of creating a basic network of cultural institutions of the local level are analyzed. The modern basic network of cultural institutions of the Ternopil territorial community is a consequence of the reform of the cultural sphere and the implementation of the decentralization reform. It went through three stages of its organizational formation. The basic network of culture of the local level of the Ternopil territorial community includes 39 institutions. More than 56% of the network's facilities are located in the city of Ternopil. According to the form of ownership and organizational and legal form, they are divided into 9 communal institutions, 1 communal enterprise and 29 establishments that are directly in communal ownership. The component structure of the sphere of culture and art of the community is formed by the following types of institutions: club-type cultural institutions, libraries, art schools, orchestras and cinemas. Primary socio-cultural services of the basic network are provided by 13 club-type cultural institutions. They are represented by the palace of culture, houses of culture and clubs (branches). Library institutions are the most numerous in the system of the basic network, the share of which reaches 51%. Among all 20 institutions of the community, the main role in this area is given to the Ternopil city centralized library system. Primary art education is represented by 2 music schools and 1 art school. The only municipal enterprise in the field of cinematography is the Ternopil Film Commission. A special feature of the basic network of cultural institutions of the Ternopil community is the presence of two orchestras. A significant addition to the basic network of community cultural institutions are communal institutions engaged in similar or related activities. Governing bodies ensure the systematic functioning of institutions and the implementation of measures to implement a consistent cultural policy. The territorial organization of cultural institutions of the local level of the Ternopil city community is an orderly network, where the connections between them are manifested in the formation of various combinations. Within the community, the functioning of 6 cultural and artistic systems was identified, which are combined into three types of different hierarchical levels (1 urban, 5 basic and 5 primary). The geospatial specifics of the location of the elements of the basic network result in the indicators of providing the city and basic administrative-territorial units of the community with cultural and art institutions. They are sufficient to ensure the sustainable functioning of the network and the provision of socio-cultural services. In the context of the spread of innovation diffusion, the rural area of the community is cascaded into three suburban zones: near (up to 6 km), medium (7-17 km), remote (over 18 km). The first zone meets the criteria of the village of Kurivtsi, the second – Malashivtsi, Glyadky, Chernykhiv, Ivankivtsi, Pleskivtsi, Kobzarivka, the third – Horodyshche, Nosivts, Vertelka. Problems of the organization of rendering of cultural services are revealed: outdated material and technical base; outflow of highly qualified creative specialists; insufficient funding from the budget; conservative forms and methods of providing cultural services; the initial level of development of cultural and creative industries. An important feature of the network of institutions of the Ternopil community is the real prospects for its expansion and improvement of functioning through the opening of new modern institutions. An important area of constant activation of socio-cultural activities is the constant increase of various forms of cultural mobility and touring activities. Key words: institution, network, community, culture, art, city, geocultural space, decentralization.

The artist Moisey Fradkin (1904–1974) was a bright talented person in a brilliant galaxy of Ukrainian artists of the late 1920s – mid 1930s. He was a direct participant in the process of forming a special national “face” of graphic art. His works, which were exhibited at numerous foreign exhibitions in Europe and the United States, were noted as “strong and magical.” However, the further Fradkin’s creative destiny was not triumphant – after a very bright surge of original talent, his art was muted in the Procrustean bed of the Stalinist ideology, from about the end of the 1930s to the 1960s. He did not lose his skills, but only at the end of his life, full of wise experience, Fradkin again acquired bright energy and youthful enthusiasm in his work. Fradkin was a widely educated person, he taught at the Kharkiv Art Institute, was an active illustrator, author of easel compositions and graphic miniatures-exlibrises, worked in the field of industrial graphics for many years, headed the section of decorative and applied arts of the Kharkiv Club of Exlibrisists, collected a huge library. He and his wife, H. Krieger put together a unique collection of paintings, graphics and decorative and applied arts (more than 4000 items), which was later inherited by the Kharkiv Art Museum. The museum’s archives contain scattered sheets with fragments of Fradkin’s memoirs about his years of study at the Kharkiv Art College-Institute, which emotionally describe the time of the rapid reform of art education, which was full of contradictions. The article is based on these, not completely deciphered notes, and on the personal memoirs of the author of the article, who was familiar with the artist in the last four years of his life.

The article presents the problems of philosophical scientific and scientific-educational work in the border region of Russia, which is the greater Orenburg Region, which is adjacent to Kazakhstan in the south, and borders with Bashkiria in the north. Following the scientific and educational tasks that contribute to the strengthening of ideological attitudes in the region, the philosophical club Arete (Greek. virtue, dignity), based in the Orenburg library named after N. K. Krupskaya, attracts students, teachers, researchers and all those interested in science to participate in discussions on philosophy. In the midst of the pandemic, the library uploaded videos of Arete meetings to make them available to a wider audience. The discussions do reflect the club’s name — participants focus on virtue, perfection, problems of freedom and responsibility. The meetings have a therapeutic, pedagogical effect, they help refrain from passions and make a dignified and deserving member of society. This sociocultural project rekindles understanding philosophy as an art of living. Philosophy teaches to resort to reason in decision-making and leads to a true virtue, bridging the gap between everyday life and a higher plane of thought. The young when introduced to philosophy get an invaluable help in finding answers to the most profound questions of what it is to be a human and how to find where you belong. In this respect, the topics of the club’s meeting indicate the scope of problems that need consideration and discussion with a younger audience: core values of a civil society; philosophical basis of legal culture; the problem of individual’s self-determination; the phenomenon of fear in the philosophical discourse; the study of axiological problem of social memory; philosophy of family; abandonment and solitude at home; problems of modern aesthetics and environmental challenges etc. From our point of view, initiatives that raise the profile of Russian regions are in the best interest of cities and towns suffering depopulation. Such projects are vital since they give the sense of empowerment and belonging, let them feel involved in the real economy, politics and culture, and thus encourage the young generation to develop their home area. We hope that Arete will set a good example of a project that brings philosophy back to people.

To present-day astronomers the name of Robert Ellery, by which our newly established lectureship is to be known, means little. A century ago it was a different story. Ellery was then one of the most respected scientists in the country, a leading astronomer who had been director of the Melbourne Observatory since it was founded in 1853, and who had taken it to a prominent position in international astronomy. Besides this he was a man of parts who spread his talents widely. He was a founder and long-term president of the Royal Society of Victoria, treasurer of the University Council, chairman of the committee of the Alfred Hospital, Trustee of the Public Library, the Art Gallery and the Museum, and he was an active member, latterly commander, of the local Torpedo and Signal Corps, a coastal defence unit manned by citizen soldiers. Late in life he became the first president of the Beekeepers’ Club. He was elected to the Royal Society and awarded a CMG: all in all, a man of character and achievement.

The object of research in this article is the ex-libris sphere of Ukraine in the period from the beginning of the 1990s to the present day. Ukrainian ex-libris actually began to exist in 1991, when it became possible to speak about the Ukrainian bookplate as a phenomenon of art rather than about it as a segment of Soviet graphic art. It has headily changed its character and started a different transformation since the early 1990s. Over the past 20 to 25 years, the Ukrainian bookplate not only has come out of the shadows, turning into a valuable work of art, but also has received several new roles, inheriting the stages of transformation that took place in other countries. If earlier the book plate mainly served as an identifier of the owner, had mainly an informative function and was hidden from the eyes of the public, now it has become not just a work of graphic art, but an art object that, due to its typological diversity and specific artistic qualities, quickly acquired the status of not only an exhibited work of mini-print, but also a collectible. Ex-libris is more often exhibited, it is collected by artists, graphic artists, bibliophiles, and patrons. It has become a kind of an instrument for intercultural dialogue, promoting international communication. The change in the functional charac-teristics of ex-libris, the expansion of the circle of customers, the rapid growth of inter-est in the bookplate, and the increase in demand for it provoked a change in the status of the bookplate among artists themselves. If earlier the book platewas only one of the pages of the creative biography of a number of artists, now there are many masters who specialize in it, who have turned it into the main object of their professional interest. The commercialization of the phenomenon has developed: EL has become a kind of a pass to the international art space for young artists. The Ukrainian cultural field re-ceived its center of popularization of the bookplate as a self-valuable work of art of small-form graphics in 1993, when the Ukrainian ex-libris club was created in Kyiv. In the winter of 1993/94, the first international exhibition Woman in Ex-Libris” was held in the Ukrainian capital. In 1994, the international ex-libris competition Many Reli-gions – God Is One was organized. Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been a clear tendency to separate several leading schools. The most original, with characteristic stylistic features, schools of the modern Ukrainian bookplate became Lviv, Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkiv. There are also several hotbeds of ex-libris popularization in Ukraine, with great professionals in the field of mini-print, but they are few to speak about inde-pendent schools: Luhansk, Mukachevo, Severodonetsk, Sumy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi. In today’s art space of the country, the bookplate owes its survival primarily to collec-tors and patrons, and its main, perhaps, the only, way to preserve it in the art world is to transform it into an instrument of intercultural dialogue, integration into the internation-al field, without losing its national identity.

The purpose of the article is to study and clarify the main forms of cultural cooperation of Western European cultural and leisure centers with European countries. The methodology. The descriptive method and the systemic approach were applied, the review references of the National library of Yaroslav Mudryi “On cultural cooperation of Ukraine with foreign countries” for 2017–2020 and numerous Internet sources were worked out. The results. It was found out that cultural and leisure centers, including the ones in Western Ukraine, take an active part in intercultural cooperation between Ukraine and European countries. As European countries have for a long time involved culture as a factor in humanitarian development, and leading European countries allocate significant funds and attract the best professionals to implement large­scale cultural projects and to increase their presence in Ukraine, so the increase of the number of cultural projects, programs, European culture days, printed and electronic publications, media product will justify themselves as the means of increasing the interest of the Ukrainian public in Europe. By cultural and leisure centers we mean various forms of cultural institutions that are part of the basic network of cultural institutions, including libraries, museums, galleries, reserves, exhibition halls, theaters, philharmonics, concert organizations, art groups, cinemas, film and video distribution enterprises, associations, palaces and houses of culture, other club establishments, educational establishments in the field of culture, art schools, studios, parks of culture and recreation. These institutions carry the lion’s share of all art exhibitions, projects, events and other cultural events taking place in Ukraine. In Western Ukraine, cultural and leisure centers are one of the main subjects in the process of cultural development of the country, without which it is impossible to achieve the strategic goals of Ukraine’s development in the field of culture. Among the events that promote European integration of Ukraine there are international festivals with European representatives, exhibitions, concerts, thematic events, master classes, workshops, trainings, training courses, creative laboratories, scientific cooperation — conferences, forums, seminars which take place in Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano­Frankivsk, Volyn, Rivne regions in offline and online formats. The scientific novelty: the article attempts to study the role of cultural and leisure centers of Western Ukraine in the formation of a single European socio­cultural space. The practical significance. The analyzed practical experience of European cooperation of cultural and leisure centers of Western Ukraine can be borrowed by the institutions of other regions.

THE CHERNELYTSIA CASTLE IN PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE LATE 19TH–20TH CENTURYFor a long time, it was believed that the Chernelytsia Castle in Pokuttia did not attract much attention from artists due to its relatively small size and remoteness from the main roads. This should have resulted in a small amount of illustrative material, primarily photographs, depicting the castle. However, the actual situation is different. Over the last ten years, archival and library searches conducted by a team of Polish and Ukrainian researchers have made it possible to discover, identify, date, and publish numerous photographs of the Chernelytsia Castle. The discovered photographs are stored in the National Library in Warsaw, the Archive of the Department of Polish Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology, the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Karta Center in Warsaw, the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Lviv, the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv, the Scientific and Technical Archive of the Institute ‘Ukrzakhidproektrestavratsiya’ in Lviv, and the private collections of Oleksandr Kahlian, Levko Kvyatkovskyy, and Vitaliy Nagirnyy. All currently known photographs of the Chernelytsia Castle were taken between the 1880s to 1990s using the traditional method and classic photographic equipment. The earliest ones date back to the 1880s and were made by Kolomyian photographer Juliusz Dutkiewicz in 1880 for the Ethnographic Exhibition of Pokuttya in Kolomyia. Over the next few years, photographs of the castle by an unknown author (1884) and Albin Fridrich (between 1892 and 1904) appeared. A large number of photographs of the Chernelytsia Castle were taken in the interwar period. In 1921, 7 photographs of the castle were taken by an unknown photographer on the request of the Conservative Club in Lviv. Another 23 photographs of the fortress were taken in 1935 by Bogdan Guerquin. In addition, during this period, a number of other single photographs of the castle were taken by unidentified authors, which are currently preserved in private collections. The photographs of the Chernelytsia Castle from the second half of the 20th century by Ostap Kudybin (second half of the 1960s) and Ihor Starosolskyy (1969-1971) are of great importance. The significance of these photographs cannot be overestimated. They are a unique source that allows us not only to show the state of the castle in different periods, from the late 19th century to the late 20th century, but also to illustrate the dynamics of changes and losses of fortifications, and even to try to reconstruct the original appearance of the historical monument. Some of the photographs described in the article have been published before, while others are published for the first time.

The handbook Library Science for Beginners is definitely a much-needed appearance in our editorial landscape. Coordinated by the Centre for Professional Development from „Octavian Goga“ County Library Cluj, the handbook contains chapters and subchapters written by librarians with experience, such as Diana Baciu, Aura Câmpan, Delia Chira, Ghizela Cosma, Tatiana Costiuc, Ana Maria Dudescu, Simona Floruțău, Octavia Hulpoi, Floarea Elena Moșoiu, Anca-Maria Pop, Monica Sărăcuț, Luminița Sima, Georgeta Topan, Liana Vescan, Adriana Zotea and last, but not least, by the manager Sorina Stanca. The volume was published with the help of the Cluj County Council. [...]

Abstract This article seeks to record the various writings of A. J. A. Symons (1900–1941). While best known for his biography, The Quest for Corvo (1934) Symons wrote widely on biography and on bibliographical and bibliophilic matters. He also made many contributions to the various publications of the First Edition Club, of which he was Director. In addition, in his later years he wrote extensively on food and wine. The range of his publications indicates the steadily widening extent of his interests in his brief life.

This article aims to evaluate the copies of 18th century old Romanian books preserved in the collections of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest. A number of 12 volumes, printed in printing centres such as Blaj, Sibiu, Cluj, Vienna, Frankfurt, Leipzig or Hamburg, were identified. The works researched cover fields such as history, geography, theology and philology, and the authors include personalities of Romanian culture such as Dimitrie Cantemir and Gheorghe Șincai.

Minor art in the West, calligraphy was revered in the Islamic world, developing in amazingly diverse and original ways and revealing the aspiration to devise a radically non-mimetic visual construction to exalt and spread the Divine Word in a culture that frowns on making an image of the divine and its creation. Paper and the emergence of bureaucratic elite prompted the development of sophisticated calligraphic styles with six standardized cursive scripts, the nature of the text or the prospective readers determining the type of writing employed for literary, religious, or administrative works. The Islamic manuscripts and books in the Romanian Academy Library of Cluj-Napoca, the legacy of the celebrated scholar Timotei Cipariu, illustrate a wide repertoire of styles, once again demonstrating the inherent potential of Islamic calligraphy for developing a variety of versatile ornamental forms, while remaining true to its key role to communicate facts and express thoughts and feelings.

Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” concludes with the narrator’s great revelation that takes place in the Prince de Guermantes’ library. The meaning of this particular setting can be interpreted in different ways. The article examines some of the lesser-known early texts by Marcel Proust that played a significant part in the shaping of Guermantes, not just as a group of characters or a social phenomenon but as a possible metapoetic clue. The turn of the century nobility in Proust’s “Parisian Salons” serves as an eclectic yet inspiring “library” to the narrator, who is preoccupied mostly with reading and constantly recalling fragments of his reading experiences and associations. Almost in the same way Proust uses his mentor, Robert de Montesquiou, not only as a prototype for his baron de Charlus but as a focus point in an elaborate literary game. Anna de Noailles stands aside as the only independent figure in the gallery of charmed princes and princesses: in Proust’s vision she is both a perfect work of art and a perfect author. The article proposes to study Proust’s fascination with the “Guermantes’ way” in the context of his quest for new ways of authorship.

Bank Indonesia stated that Financial Technology/Fintech is the result of a combination of technology and financial services. Platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Lending Club, Rock et Hub are becoming increasingly popular for crowdfunding new products and services. The type of contribution that supporters make determines the difference between these platforms. Kickstarter supporters can see first hand the creative process and contribute to the project's success.Several community groups have also developed insights to make the most of internet facilities. The research method used a normative legal approach and an empirical approach. The data collection technique used in this research is library research. Legal protection for financial technology reward based crowdfunding in creative industry projects (Studies on the Kickstarter.com Platform) explains that Kickstarter has adopted a general policy regarding copyright in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Keywords: Financial Technology; Technology; Kickstarter.

When I was a kid growing up in Medicine Hat, there weren’t any professional puppeteers around that I could pester for “how-to” information, and certainly no one in my family had a clue what I was talking about. Thus began a childhood campaign of tracking down those puppeteers whose work fascinated me from the pages of puppet books in the local library. Sometimes I would be lucky enough to find the address of one of those idols, other times I would have to use my own resourcefulness in contacting them. Before I had miraculously discovered American puppeteer Bil Baird’s address in a magazine article, I had written him the first of many fan letters with this straightforward (I thought) information on the envelope: Mr Bill Baird, New York City, U.S.A. I was nine years old.

In 1425, Parisians under Anglo-Burgundian rule during the Hundred Years War enjoyed the spectacle of blind men in armor attempting to club a pig to death, in the process clubbing one another. Marginal images in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 264, a Flemish Romance of Alexander copied and illuminated roughly eighty years earlier, closely resemble this so-called game, and a dozen cities recorded iterations beginning in the thirteenth century and continuing into the fifteenth. The repetition suggests the workings of a scenario, which performance studies theorist Diana Taylor defines as a condensation of embodied practice and knowledge reactivated in multiple times and places to transmit culture from person to living person. Reading through the Bodley 264 Romance of Alexander in order to clarify the scenario's specific function in its Parisian context, this article argues that the strategic battering of marginal beings served to transmit a hierarchically ordered culture while forcefully expelling the Armagnac faction from the hierarchy's highest rank. Within this stark example of public violence that performatively materialized political division, the bodies of pigs and blind men resonated with multiple identity categories, and the dominant group whose power and cohesion the entertainment reinforced both ignored and enjoyed their trauma.

Charles de l’Écluse (Carolus Clusius, 1526 – 1609) was one of the first and foremost descriptive botanists who turned the description of plants into a true art. He was also responsible for introducing several hitherto unknown plants. Like other Renaissance personalities, he had many scientific interests. He studied law, he earned a doctorate in medicine from Montpellier, but his leading passion was botany. He chiefly focused on plants with medicinal properties in order that people benefited from his research. His best-known works are: Rariorum plantarum historia: Fungorum in Pannoniis observatarum brevia historia…, a remarkable pioneering mycological study containing highly accurate descriptions illustrated by over thousand engravings, in which he attempts at re-classifying the species according to affinities, an in-folio edition published in the Christophe Plantin’s printing house in Anvers in 1601, and Exoticorum libri decem : quibus animaliium, plantarum, aromatum, aliorumque peregrinorum fructuum historiae describuntur, another in folio edition published by the same printer in Anvers in 1605. The two editions of Clusius’s complete works of botany and natural history most often consulted by specialists are also preserved in the collections of the library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj-Napoca. We are proud to posses them and we believe it is not only our duty, but also our pleasure to treasure and introduce them to the public.

Native Son (Harper & Brothers, 1940), by Richard Wright (1908, Roxie, Mississippi–1960, Paris, France), contained a scene rewritten by the author to satisfy the Book of the Month Club, which had selected a Black author for the first time. In the censored scene, the main character, Bigger Thomas, engages in a lewd sexual act; other potentially offensive contents, however, were not subjected to the same treatment. The first Spanish translation, Sangre negra (Sudamericana, 1941), was banned in Spain twice (1944 and 1953) when the Argentinian publishers attempted to import it into the strongly autocratic country ruled by Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975. The translation, by Pedro Lecuona, was finally published in Spain in 1987, under the literal title Hijo nativo (Ediciones Versal and Círculo de Lectores), with a revised text for the European-Spanish readership. The state censorship that banned this translation from Spain, the self-censorship that the Argentinian translation contains, and the Iberian revisions are all examined closely. In 1991, the Library of America published an uncensored edition which restored the unexpurgated text. However, Lecuona’s (revised) translation circulated until 2022, when an unexpurgated text, Hijo de esta tierra (Alianza Editorial) by Eduardo Hojman, was made from the restored text of this hugely significant example of African-American literature. This edition restores all previously (self)censored segments and also contains the first Spanish version of the epilogue “How Bigger Was Born”. Book reviews and social media reception pinpoint the importance of Wright’s contribution but are neglectful of this retranslation’s fascinating history

In the presented article an attempt is made to carry out a historiographical analysis of the problem of formation and development of the theory and practice of aesthetic education in outof-school education institutions in Ukraine in the postwar period, from the early 50s to early 60s. Analysis of primary sources, archival documents, periodicals of the 50s of the last century, the latest work on the study of the formation and development of school and extracurricular education in Ukraine, the study of certain aspects of the aesthetic education system, carried out in all educational institutions of our country, showed that in the postwar period, starting from the early 50s of the twentieth century, the system of extracurricular education gained the most rapid development, when the state and with its support clearly formed its content, directions, forms and methods of teaching and educational process. It is proved that one of the important activities of out-of-school educational institutions in Ukraine was the direction of art and aesthetic education, and such areas as leisure, tourism and local lore, library and bibliography also, in addition to solving their immediate tasks, supplemented and worked to strengthen and support it.Thus, all, without exception, areas worked to ensure the development of creative abilities and talents, acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of culture and art, contributed to attracting young people to reading, participation in educational and aesthetic activities. In addition, the author notes the fact that the work of out-of-school institutions of various types were covered during this period in the history of our country, all children, without exception, regardless of financial security and social status of their parents and place of residence. It is proved that in the early 50s the network of out-of-school educational institutions was developed and developed, the content of the activity of workshops, clubs, specialized schools, etc. was determined. It is determined that one of the priority vectors of out-of-school education institutions of this period was the artistic and aesthetic education of children and youth.

Introduction. In the music of the late twentieth century the realization of the creative potential of performers is rarely limited with the framework of direction which was chosen in the beginning of career. The field of the academic music may be too narrow for the artist, but this does not mean a definitive departure from this area. The life and performances of Italian singer, actress and composer Daisy Lumini (1936–1993) could be considered as one of the examples of the twentieth century “variability” of the artist’s way. She developed from a graduate of the Conservatory to a pop star and a cabaret singer, from a medieval folklore performer to an interpreter of contemporary academic music. Daisy Lumini’s unique performing experience led her to collaborate with Italian composers of the late twentieth century. Theoretical background. The extraordinary personality of Daisy Lumini received a certain resonance in the European press. High historical value is the biographical essay “Daisy e la musica. Una grande e tragica storia” (2019) by Chiara Ferrari, based on the memories of Beppe Chierici. Daisy Lumini and her works are mentioned in digest “The Singer-Songwriter in Europe: Paradigms, Politics and Place” (2016) and in Jacopo Tomatis’s “Storia culturale della canzone italiana” (2019). The purpose of this paper is to reveal the specifics of the interaction of the composer and performer in the post-avant-garde music based on the creative collaboration of Daisy Lumini and Italian composers of the late twentieth century (Franco Mannino, Luciano Berio, Salvatore Sciarrino). This study requires the use of analytical, style and performing methods of scientific research. Results of the research. Daisy Lumini’s singing style has implicated using a lot of types of intonational practices which is usually associated with the mass twentieth century culture (including pop songs, folk music, cabaret aesthetic etc.). Nevertheless, she had started her musician career with getting education (as a composer and pianist) in totally academic environment in Luigi Cherubini Conservatory (Florence, Italy). Being a daughter of the Florentine painter Vasco Lumini, Daisy Lumini had would be able to continue a calm and comfortable existence in Florence. However, after she had been graduated from the Conservatory in late 1950s she decided to change her life vector, moved to Rome, started her activity as a cantautrice (female singer-songwriter) and produced her first singles. During this period, Lumini found success in collaboration with lyric writer Aldo Alberini and well-known Italian singers Mina Mazzini and Claudio Villa. Along with traditional vocal techniques, Lumini used the whistling technique, due to which she got the nickname “l’usignolo di Firenze” (“the Florentine nightingale”) and was invited by Ennio Morricone to whistle in the soundtrack of Lina Wertmüller’s “I Basilischi” (“The Lizards”, 1963). In 1960s a work in Gianni Bongiovanni’s Derby Club Cabaret (Milan) and a collaboration with the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) turned into the fields of Lumini’s creative activity. The acquaintanceship with Beppe Chierici, an actor, who would become her husband, lead to a new “folklore” stage of Lumini’s career. As a result of careful research of Italian folk music founded on the materials of Conservatory Santa Cecilia Library (Rome), the singer together with Beppe Chierici had produced several musical performances in the aesthetics of poor theater based on the Tuscan and Piedmontese songs of the XV–XIX centuries, as well as the Songs of Minstrels album based on the texts of the XII–XIV centuries. There was DaisyLumini’s gradual return to the environment of academic music in 1970s. Singer’s friendly communication with conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti, composers Franco Mannino, Domenico Guaccero and others, who represented Santa Cecilia Conservatory, has resulted in a number of creative collaborations. In 1973, even being immersed in ethnographic research, Daisy Lumini performed as mezzo-soprano in Franco Mannino’s “Il diavolo in giardino”. Another milestone in Daisy Lumini’s work became 1982, when director Roberto Scaparro invited the singer to participate in the Italian premiere of Luciano Berio’s “La vera storia”. In the opera, which is a creative reinterpretation of Verdi’s “Troubadour”, Daisy Lumini played the role of one of the cantastorie – singing storytellers or narrators describing and commenting events of the plot. Daisy Lumini achieved a real success as a performer of the post-avant-garde music in the 1980s, in collaboration with Salvatore Sciarrino. Daisy Lumini has premiered a great number of his chamber works, such as “Efebo con Radio”, “Canto degli specchi”, “Vanitas”, “Lohengrin” and some others. Conclusions. Although Daisy Lumini is an individual case, the phenomena and strategies discussed here may turn out to be symptomatic for contemporary music practice. Performers may rarely allow themselves to remain within the same intonational practice in the contemporary music art. It is especially important if it comes to the first performing of the post-avant-garde music that requires a certain congeniality of the performer and the author. The interaction of the composer and the performer is often a factor affecting the creation of a musical work at all stages, from the appearance of an idea for a premiere performance. The musician with a rich life experience and wide range of performing techniques may be considered as the co-author of the score.

Digging in the Crates: Hip Hop Studies at Virginia Tech, or VTDITC, is a pedagogical model that exists to foster a sense of community among artists, fans, and scholars. Based in our campus’ main library, we hope to model that students’ and community members’ personal interests are worthy of academic study and further establish Hip Hop Studies’ presence at Virginia Tech, the academy, and in the larger community. To that end, the VTDITC community has designed, taught, and assessed more than 150 community-based media literacy workshops over the past half decade. We have demonstrated, explained, and created opportunities for a wide variety of learners to experience the science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics inherent to the hip hop culture. We have learned alongside a diversity of audiences—from elementary school children to adults. To name just a few of our partner organizations, we have worked with the 4H Virginia Congress, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia, Higher Achievement, Inc., a variety of public libraries including our regular collaborator Roanoke Public Libraries, the Science Museum of Western Virginia, Virginia’s Summer Residential Governor's School for Humanities, and the West End Center for Youth. In our contribution to The Global Drumbeat: Permeations of Hip Hop across Diverse Information Worlds, we will outline and explain an example lesson plan from one of our workshops. We will provide our learning outcomes as well as our assessment plan. Additionally, we will detail the theoretical underpinnings and guiding principles that inform our pedagogical decision making. Our workshops take a hands-on, practitioner-minded, and co-creation approach to teaching media literacy. Inasmuch, this contribution will also provide a recommended list of music creation equipment and other appropriate classroom technology that will accommodate a variety of budgets. Furthermore, we will include several promising practices and recommendations gained from more than 50 years of collective experience creating hip hop music and 10 years of collective experience teaching the hip hop arts. Our hope is that this contribution will inspire other library workers and educators to remix our workshops to suit the needs of their communities.

In 1750 our President, the Duke of Somerset, who had been elected in 1724 when the Marquis of Hertford died. We elected in his place the Duke of Richmond whose portrait, given by our Fellow Richard Hatchwell in 1995, hangs on our stairs: Richmond attended the St George's Day dinner in 1750 but did little more for the Society until his death in November of the same year. Our Vice-President Martin Folkes, who had been President of the Royal Society since 1741 in succession to Sir Hans Sloane, was elected in Richmond's place. Folkes successfully steered the Society towards the Royal Charter granted by King George II, our ‘Founder and Patron’, on 2 November 1751, whose 250th anniversary we shall be celebrating next year, although by that time Folkes, who had suffered a paralytic stroke on 26 September, was incapable. A Fellow since 1720, Folkes's main interests were Roman antiquities and English coins. He was not universally beloved: Stukeley called him ‘an arrant infidel and loud scoffer’ who ‘believes nothing of a future state, of the Scriptures of revelation.’ On 2 June 1858 what was said to be Folkes's cocked hat was presented to the Cocked Hat Club. Late last year the Society was able to purchase at Christie's a more reliable relic in the form of Folkes's portrait painted by Jonathan Richardson in 1718, which now hangs behind the President's Chair, 250 years after Folkes's election to that office. Richardson, the painter, although not a Fellow, is worthy of respect in antiquarian circles: An Account of the Statues and Bas-reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, France etc, with Remarks, edited from his son's Grand Tour notes, and first published in London in 1722, was valued by our Honorary Fellow, the Abbé Winckelmann, and a French edition was issued at Amsterdam in 1728. Our Library has the first edition, left to the Society by our Fellow Arthur Ashpitel in 1869. The 1754 second London edition and the 1728 Amsterdam edition are surely desiderata.

<p>This study aims to determine the factors causing the threat of extinction and the strategy of maintaining the sinrili tradition in the Makassar community. This study is based on library research with a descriptive approach. The results of this research reveal that the factors that cause the threat of extinction of the sinrili tradition in the Makassar community are:(1) Work as a singer is not considered as a main profession in Makassar, and is only seen as a side job. (2) The development of modern music which is more attractive to the younger generation poses a challenge to this tradition. (3) The quantity of sinrili in Makassar has deteriorated because the three sinrili maestros have died. There are five strategies for maintaining the sinrili tradition in the Makassar community, namely (1) the provision of a forum by the Government, in this case, the Office of Culture to form a sinrili community (2) developing the interest of the younger generations by holding cultural festivals and having sinrili competitions (3) teaching the sinrili tradition through art circles or clubs (4) documenting the sinrili oral literature, and (5) including the sinrili tradition in the teaching materials of local content subjects of Makassar regional culture. From the results of this research, it can be concluded that currently the process of regenerating singers is still going on through the process of legacy and learning, but at present, there is only one person who is good at singing and performing sinrili, namely Arif Rahman Daeng Rate. Thus, the condition of the sinrili tradition requires serious attention from all parties so that this tradition will remain sustainable and not go into extinction.</p>

In the article the features of creativity of the Kharkov architect A.N. Beketov were considered, who had graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (with a Big Golden Medal, 1888). The very first of his works gave the new development of the central streets and squares of Kharkiv (in enlarged, really capital scale). He came to work in Kharkov at his own request, and in 1889 he won a competition for the project of Commercial School building, which was realised. In the 1890-s and the 1910-s, A.N. Beketov supervised his own design bureau, which dealt not only with the design, but with the organization of construction works. In 1894, for a library project for one and a half million volumes, he received the title of academician of architecture. In accordance with the obtained education, A.N. Beketov freely operated with forms of various historical styles and because this he was a typical for his time architect- eclecticist. In total, A.N. Beketov built more than 40 public and residential buildings in Kharkov and about 60 in other cities of the Russian Empire and in the USSR. The main buildings on Beketov's projects in Kharkov are concentrated in the area between Pushkinskaya and Sumskaya streets. Particularly interesting are the buildings of mansions, built on his projects, including three of his own. He designed public buildings in Neo-Renaissance, «Beaux-Arts» and Neoclassicism styles, and his projects of the mansions had more diverse stylistic solutions, taking into account their perception in the urban environment and the relations with surrounding buildings adjacent areas. On the street of Myrrhbearers was formed an interesting kind of ensemble of Beketov's mansions, which are now usedas the professional clubs and the central city's art museum.

Sean O'Casey came in the limelight with his Dublin Trilogy of which the first play, named, The shadow of a gunman, was premiered at the Abbey in 1923. But he had earlier written three plays- The Frost in the Flower (1917), The Harvest Festival (1918) and The Crimson in the Tricolor (1920)- which were rejected by the Abbey directorate. Of these the first and the last named above are still untraceable and it is "unlikely that either will ever be recovered now."1 However, Luckily the manuscript of The Harvest Festival was acquired by the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library in 1969 and was not available to scholars until 1978. Robert Patrick Murphy has said, "I have not been able to examine. The Harvest Festival. Lola L. Szladits, Curator of the Berg collection of the New York Public Library, considers the holograph a 'museum piece' and maintains an official policy of discouraging access by students."2 it was first published in America in 1978 and in Ireland and Britain in 19809. It is logical, therefore, that no study on the play could be made until this time, though references to it do occur in a number of book- length studies on O'Casey's plays. But even these stray remarks on the play are made on the basis of what O'Casey himself has to say about it in his Innisfallen Fare thee Well,3 and not on that on any close reading of the text. It is pertinent to notice that even seventeen years after its publication the play is yet to be performed. During his life time O'Casey himself showed no interest in the play in his writings and correspondence; his venture to revise the play remained incomplete; only the first Act is partly revised John O'Riordan has regretted: "The dramatist himself in his meridian years never strove to promote it."4 Even the O'Casey Annual and Sean O'Casey's Review, two major journals aiming at promoting fresh studies and researches on the unexplored areas of O'Casey's writings, have shown singular neglect of this play. Perhaps, drawing a clue from the dramatist himself, some of the major O'Casey scholars in their studies have disparaged the play.

The article describes the activities of Konstantin Vysotsky (1836–1886), who was first to open a photographic studio (1866), a lithographic studio (1867), a printing house (1869), and a newspaper (1879) in Tyumen. The first consideration of Vysotsky in the context of the history of the media and their transformations/revolutions contributes to the novelty of the research. It allows for a description of his experience of media transformations in a Siberian regional town of the second half of the 19th century in a systematic way, as opposed to the local and fragmentary descriptions which existed in science until now. The research methodology is integrative in nature: the study of book printing as a cultural practice in connection with economic, social and cultural transformations within the boundaries of cultural history (F. Barbier) is combined with contextual and intertextual approaches, bibliological and structural-typological analysis. The research material contains Vysotsky’s book, photographic, lithographic, and newspaper heritage stored in the Russian National Library, Tobolsk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, I.Ya. Slovtsov Museum Complex (Tyumen), and the Digital Collection of the University of Tyumen entitled K.N. Vysotsky and the Media Culture of Tyumen. Vysotsky is presented both as an object and a subject of the economic, technological, social, and cultural transformations of the city. He was actively and creatively changing it. Based on the analysis of Vysotsky’s journalistic and publishing activities, his role in the history of the Tyumen shipping company and railway is revealed. The connection between Vysotsky and the landscape transformations of the city is shown. The idea that Vysotsky’s figure can be interpreted in the context of the phenomenon of new people in Russia in the 1860s–1870s is introduced. It is shown that the Tyumen generation of new people (N.M. Chukmaldin, K.N. Vysotsky, I.A. Kalganov, etc.) with their daily practices (reading, self-education, movement towards “light and will”, a new order in servant-master relations) was being formed largely under the influence of Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s novel What Is to Be Done? Tales of New People (1863), Nikolai Yadrintsev’s ideas of Siberian renovation, Ivan Turgenev’s interpretation of the image of Don Quixote (Hamlet and Don Quixote, 1860). Intertextual connections of the system of motifs revealing the image of new people in Nikolai Chukmaldin’s memoirs Notes on My Life (1902) and Chernyshevsky’s novel are presented. It is established that the first book published by Vysotsky, Charter of the Estate Manager Club in Tyumen, actually became a message about a new life of the city which Vysotsky and Chukmaldin addressed to the people of Tyumen. Another finding is the logic of Vysotsky’s professional development from photography to book printing. The author discusses the structure of the Vysotsky printing house repertoire dominated by documentary and non-fiction genres (road books, statutes, reports, calendars, catalogs, etc.). The complementarity of the book and visual (photographic and lithographic associated with the graphosphere) portraits of Tyumen created by Vysotsky contributed to a new hyper-reality which appeared in the city.

AbstractAmong the extensive collection of pen sketches by Johannes Stradanus (Bruges 1523-Florence 1605) in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (Notes 1,2) are thirteen hitherto unknown compositions which prove to be preliminary studies for eleven detailed drawings and two engravings. Inscriptions identify them as scenes from the life of St. Giovanni Gualberto and they belong to a set which must originally have consisted of al least fifteen illustrations. St. Giovanni Gualberto of Florence (Note 4), who died in 1073, is mainly known as a powerful reformer of the church, who set himsef above all to root out corruption and simony, and as the founder of the Benedictine Order of Vallombrosa. His cult enjoyed a revival during the Counter-Reformation, witness the decoration in 1580 of the chapel at Passignano, where he was buried, with frescos and altarpieces by A. Allori and his pupils and the installation there of a new tomb designed by G. B. Caccini, in which his remains were deposited (Note 5). In 1586 his lower jaw was removed to a new reliquary by G. B. Puccini in S. Trinita, the most important Vallombrosan Church in Florence, and in 1594 this was ceremonially installed in the new chapel designed for it by Caccini (Note 6). The saint also occupied an important place in the decoration of tha façade of the Cathedral for the entry of Christina of Lorraine in 1589 (Note 7), while in 1595 came the official recognition of his feast day on 12 July. In 1583 a new life of the saint, commissioned by Don Salvadore, Abbot General of the Order of Vallombrosa, was published in Florence by the Vallombrosan monk and historian Eudosio Loccatelli (Notes 8, 9). From this it is possible to identify all but one of the subjects illustrated by Stradanus, which follow the text so closely that he would seem to have used it as his literary source (Note 10). The subjects illustrated are as follows, in the chronological order given by Loccatelli: The Miracle of the Crucifix (Fig. I, Note I I), St. Giovanni Gualberto Publicly Accusing the Bishop of Florence and the Abbot of S. Miniato of Simony (Figs. 2, 3, Notes 12, 13), The Alms Returned Threefold (Figs.4, 5, Notes 15, 16), A Miraculous Provision of Bread at Vallombrosa (Figs. 6, bottom right, 7, Notes 17, 18), A Miraculous Provision of Food at Vallombrosa (Fig.8, left, Note 19), The Destruction of the Monastery at Moscheta (Figs. 9, top left, 10, Notes 20, 21), A Miraculous Distribution of Grain at Vallombrosa (Figs.9, top right, 11, Notes 22, 23), The Miraculous Catch of Pike at Passignano (Fig. 12, Notes 24, 25), The Miraculous Storm at Moscheta (Figs.9, bottom left, 13, Notes 26, 27), The Massacre and the Miraculous Healing of the Monks of S. Salvi (Figs. 6, top left, 14, Notes 28, 29), The Trial by Fire of Pietro Aldobrandini at Settimo (Figs. 6, bottom left, 15, Notes 30,31), St. Giovanni Gualberto Visiting a Sick Woman (Figs. 9, bottom right, 16, Notes 34, 35), An Angel Assisting St. Giovanni Gualberto on his Death bed (Figs.6 top right, 17, Notes 36, 37) and The Miraculous Healing of Adalassia (Fig. 8, right, Note 38). Insofar as sketches and finished drawings can be compared with each other, Stradanus proves in general to have taken over his first composition without appreciable change, albeit the scene of the accusing of the Bishop of Florence and Abbot of S. Miniato has been done in reverse to the sketch for topographical reasons. In those cases where more radical changes have been made, these all serve to heighten the expressiveness of the scene or to focus attention on the divine aspect of the event or the saint himself. The difference in character between the spontaneous pen sketches and the final drawings is striking. The latter are done in pen and brown ink and brown wash, carefully heightened with white, over traces of black chalk. They are highly finished drawings with a notable plasticity and monumentality for their modest size. The technique is close to that of Stradanus' numerous studies for engravings and the lefthandedness of the figures and the margins reserved for inscriptions at the bottom show that these drawings were also meant as models for a set of engravings. This set was evidently never executed, but there are separate, prints of two of the compositions, made at a later date, in the library of the abbey at Vallombrosa. One of these (Fig.18, Note 41) shows the Massacre scene in reverse and is dated to between 1625 and 1629 by its dedication to Don Averardo Niccolini, Abbot General of the Order during those years (Note 42). The other (Fig. 19, Note 43) shows The Miraculous Healing of Adalassia in reverse and enriched with some decorative details. Of the two coats of arms on the sarcophagus, one is presumably that of the Order of Vallombrosa (Note 44), the other that of the Visdomini family of Florence (Note 45), to which St. Giovanni Gualberto is traditionally said to belong. The arms of the Del Sera family of Florence (Note 47) below are clearly an addition to Stradanus' composition. Both prints are anonymous and of mediocre quality. They will presumably have, been made in or around Florence. The only clue to the dating of the drawings is their style which is close to that of the work of the last period of Stradanus' long career. In these years his style evolved from Mannerism to an early Baroque idiom, with an increasing concentration on lucidly structured compositions with quite large, plastic figures in a clearly defined space. Other striking elements are the genre-like conception of predominantly Biblical or literary themes, the narrative manner and the far-reaching detailing. The drawings discussed here can be dated c.1595 on the basis of their closeness to such sets of that period as Nova Reperta, Vcrmis Sericus and The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Note 48). Nothing can be said, however, about the reasons behind the set. An appendix is devoted to a discussion of Stradanus and the so-called Crucifix of St. Giovanni Gualberto. The miracle of the crucifix, first related by Bishop Atto of Pistoia (d. 1153) in his lift of the saint, later came to be localized in S. Miniato, where a Medieval crucifix painted on panel was identified as the legendary one that bowed its head to the saint (Note 49). This crucifix is first mentioned in the 14th century in the crypt (Note 50), but in the 15th century it was set in front of the nave of the upper church in a ciborium made for it by Michelozzo to the commission of Piero de' Medici. In 1671 it was moved to S. Trinita where in 1897 it was installed in its present position in the chapel to the right of the high altar. The crucifix (Fig.20) has been cut down on all sides and so overpainted that it is no longer possible to discover its precise date (Note 51). That the Virgin and St. John were originally to be seen on the side panels emerges from the description by F. Tacca (Note 52), while some idea of them can be gained from an engraving by Th. Verkruys after Fr. Soderini (Fig. 21, Note 54). They were probably painted over after 1856 (Note 53). A small study by Stradanus (Fig. 22, Note 55) can be linked with this crucifix, while the correction of the halo and the hatching to the right of Christ's head give the impression that the head is bent forward away from the cross, so that the study can be seen as a rendering of the moment when the head bowed to St. Giovanni Gualberto in gratitude. Although it is fairly close in type to the crucifix which Stradanus could have seen in S. Miniato, it is in all probability not a reliable rendering of it (Note 57). It will have been done in connection with his sketch The Miracle of the Crucifix (Fig.I) and shows that at a certain stage he thought of depicting the crucifix frontally. In the sketch however he has switched to a sculptured crucifix, perhaps because of the difficulty of rendering the bowing of a head on a painted panel seen from the side.

The Constitution of Kenya specifically recognizes the freedom of association to form and belong to trade unions. However, despite the adoption of the Labour Relations Act, union practice is still hampered by excessive restrictions. The EPZ companies are labor intensive requiring a large amount of labor to produce its goods or service and thus, the welfare of the employees play a key role in their functions. This study sought to determine the effect of trade union practices on employees’ welfare at export processing zones industries in Athi River, Kenya. The specific objectives sought to determine the effect of collective bargaining agreements, industrial action, dispute resolution and trade union representation on employees’ welfare at export processing zones industries in Athi River, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive research design. Primary data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire. The target population of the study was employees in EPZ companies in Athi River, Kenya with large employees enrolled in active trade unions. The unit of observation was the employees in the trade unions. The findings indicated that collective bargaining agreements had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. Industrial action had a positive but non-significant effect with employees’ welfare at Export Processing Zones industries. Dispute resolution had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. Trade union representation had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. The study recommended that trade union should avoid the path of confrontation but continue dialogue through the collective bargaining process and demands should be realistic in nature with what is obtainable in the related industry. An existence of a formal two way communication between management and trade unions will ensure that right message is properly understood and on time too. Keywords: Collective Bargaining Agreements, Industrial Action, Dispute Resolution, Trade Union Representation, Employees Welfare & Export Processing Zones

The evolution of fashion has been affected by technology—both in the creation of new ideas and the ability to implement those ideas and distribute them. Digital technology also makes a classic fashion piece—the graphic T-shirt—easily accessible and customizable for group use. A T-shirt combines an effective method of group solidarity with visual marketing. This article analyzes what makes something “art,” the development of customizable products, and how digital technology enables development and distribution, as well as how one Gannon University club created their own design.

Abstract Study question Can virtual training deliver effective professional education to ART professionals? Summary answer Virtual continual professional education programs are an excellent learning platform for ART professionals. The web-based Educational Library is a very useful global scientific resource. What is known already Retention levels are the highest when theoretical knowledge sharing is combined with practical hands-on training in a face-to-face training center set up. This is especially the case for training in Assisted Reproductive Techniques, where success depends in part on the ART professional’s skills. Due to the global SARS-CoV–2 pandemic in 2020, hands-on training programs were forced to close, and new educational web-based activities tools like streaming of webinars and journal clubs were developed. Study design, size, duration The effectiveness of the Global Education and Webinar Series organised by CooperSurgical (including webinars and journal clubs) streamed in 2020, was evaluated retrospectively by analysing the following: 1) the live attendance rates; 2) viewing rates in the Webinar Series Library; 3) outcomes of the feedback questionnaire focusing on the level of the webinar content, relevance to day-to-day clinical and laboratory work, gaining new knowledge, and pace of the webinar. Participants/materials, setting, methods In 2020, 65 webinars and 8 journal clubs were streamed at different timepoints to accommodate a global professional ART audience. The target audience included embryologists, lab technicians, IVF clinicians, counsellors, and scientists. Topics were IVF lab and clinic-based, theoretical but also practical. Lectures were prepared with an evidence-based approach and submitted for scientific review. Post live attendance, viewers were invited to fill in a questionnaire; they obtained a certificate of attendance. Main results and the role of chance In 2020, 16,839 viewers attended the 65 live webinars and 8 journal clubs. Live attendance rates dropped by 75% in May, when IVF clinics were re-opening after the first wave of SARS-CoV–2. On 08.01.2021, a total of 23,258 library viewings were recorded. Library viewings increased significantly after the re-opening of the clinics. Viewers were located in 129 countries; India, Thailand, and Spain had the highest viewing of all the countries (&gt; 1500 viewings per country). Multiple viewers attended between 10 to 26 of the virtual activities. The feedback analysis showed that 96% of the viewers found the webinars to be relevant to their day-to-day work; 92% gained knowledge as a result of the webinar; 94% of the viewers found the level appropriate and 91% felt that the pace of the presentations was just right. These outcomes demonstrate that the need for continual professional education programs in ART in time of SARS-CoV–2 is clearly present globally. Our virtual Global Education and Webinar Series could deliver evidence-based knowledge to viewers globally and assist them in gaining knowledge – even in a distance learning setting. The Library is an excellent resource tool for ART professionals to gain knowledge at their own pace. Limitations, reasons for caution Not all ART professionals have access to high-quality internet facilities. Not all the viewers completed the questionnaire Wider implications of the findings: Web-based virtual activities can be an excellent tool for knowledge sharing. These outcomes will be used to further develop our virtual educational training program. Trial registration number Not applicable

Reading culture, which is the transformation of the act of reading into a social life style, is an important element that needs to be developed for the cultural development of the society. In order to develop this culture, all tools consisting of intangible and concrete elements that ensure the transfer of culture within the society should be used effectively. One of the most effective of these tools is, of course, literature. Literary works, which include the culture of reading as a theme, mediate the adoption of this culture by the readers. Especially in illustrated literature works for children, the elements that are desired to be gained can be adopted more quickly with the power of both the word and the picture. Bunny's Book Club written by Annie Silvestro and illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss, is one of these works. Within the scope of this study, which aims to examine the adequacy of the work called Bunny's Book Club in terms of gaining reading culture and library habit, the work in question has been examined in a multidimensional way in the axis of library science and basic elements of children's literature. As a result of the study, in which document analysis and content analysis methods were used, it was determined that the work could be considered as a good tool for gaining reading culture and library habit. The book has a good fictional narrative in terms of literature and is a qualified publication in terms of the basic elements of children's literature. Keywords: Reading culture, library habit, illustrated book, Bunny's Book Club, Annie Silvestro

The purpose of this research is to examine the evolving democratic librarianship and its robust connection to the Nordic societal model. Through an analysis of libraries in Oslo, Tromsø, Stockholm, Aarhus and Helsinki, as well as recent changes in library laws, we have analysed contemporary democratic librarianship in the Nordic countries through four essential factors: (1) citizens in democratic activities within libraries, (2) library managerial decisions, (3) activities of political parties within public libraries and (4) library laws. Through the analysis, we show that this robust and unique ecosystem is supported by (1) discussions at book clubs and shared readings events connected to common societal concerns, (2) criteria of library directors and managers, such as neutrality, freedom of speech and clauses of the Library Act, (3) perception of politicians regarding public libraries as the centre of the democratic community and (4) the Library Acts critically impacting democratic librarianship.

From February 1 to February 5, 2016, The New York Academy of Medicine Library launched #ColorOurCollections, a social media campaign that invited libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions to share images from their collections for users to color and repost on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. The current popularity of adult coloring books inspired the idea. Large print runs and parallel sales of adult coloring books by Joanna Basford, Dover’s Creative Haven line, and others demonstrate a surge of interest in adult coloring, a format that encourages participatory art-making. In 2015, coloring books dominated the trade paperback bestseller list, accounting for “13.5% of the total [list] positions.” Recently, librarians have responded to the trend, forming library coloring clubs and adult coloring therapy programs.3 In this article, we discuss the goals of #ColorOurCollections, its successes and challenges, and offer recommendations for special collections in libraries interested in embarking on social media campaigns.

Introduction Crime fiction is one of the world’s most popular genres. Indeed, it has been estimated that as many as one in every three new novels, published in English, is classified within the crime fiction category (Knight xi). These new entrants to the market are forced to jostle for space on bookstore and library shelves with reprints of classic crime novels; such works placed in, often fierce, competition against their contemporaries as well as many of their predecessors. Raymond Chandler, in his well-known essay The Simple Art of Murder, noted Ernest Hemingway’s observation that “the good writer competes only with the dead. The good detective story writer […] competes not only with all the unburied dead but with all the hosts of the living as well” (3). In fact, there are so many examples of crime fiction works that, as early as the 1920s, one of the original ‘Queens of Crime’, Dorothy L. Sayers, complained: It is impossible to keep track of all the detective-stories produced to-day [sic]. Book upon book, magazine upon magazine pour out from the Press, crammed with murders, thefts, arsons, frauds, conspiracies, problems, puzzles, mysteries, thrills, maniacs, crooks, poisoners, forgers, garrotters, police, spies, secret-service men, detectives, until it seems that half the world must be engaged in setting riddles for the other half to solve (95). Twenty years after Sayers wrote on the matter of the vast quantities of crime fiction available, W.H. Auden wrote one of the more famous essays on the genre: The Guilty Vicarage: Notes on the Detective Story, by an Addict. Auden is, perhaps, better known as a poet but his connection to the crime fiction genre is undisputed. As well as his poetic works that reference crime fiction and commentaries on crime fiction, one of Auden’s fellow poets, Cecil Day-Lewis, wrote a series of crime fiction novels under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake: the central protagonist of these novels, Nigel Strangeways, was modelled upon Auden (Scaggs 27). Interestingly, some writers whose names are now synonymous with the genre, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Raymond Chandler, established the link between poetry and crime fiction many years before the publication of The Guilty Vicarage. Edmund Wilson suggested that “reading detective stories is simply a kind of vice that, for silliness and minor harmfulness, ranks somewhere between crossword puzzles and smoking” (395). In the first line of The Guilty Vicarage, Auden supports Wilson’s claim and confesses that: “For me, as for many others, the reading of detective stories is an addiction like tobacco or alcohol” (406). This indicates that the genre is at best a trivial pursuit, at worst a pursuit that is bad for your health and is, increasingly, socially unacceptable, while Auden’s ideas around taste—high and low—are made clear when he declares that “detective stories have nothing to do with works of art” (406). The debates that surround genre and taste are many and varied. The mid-1920s was a point in time which had witnessed crime fiction writers produce some of the finest examples of fiction to ever be published and when readers and publishers were watching, with anticipation, as a new generation of crime fiction writers were readying themselves to enter what would become known as the genre’s Golden Age. At this time, R. Austin Freeman wrote that: By the critic and the professedly literary person the detective story is apt to be dismissed contemptuously as outside the pale of literature, to be conceived of as a type of work produced by half-educated and wholly incompetent writers for consumption by office boys, factory girls, and other persons devoid of culture and literary taste (7). This article responds to Auden’s essay and explores how crime fiction appeals to many different tastes: tastes that are acquired, change over time, are embraced, or kept as guilty secrets. In addition, this article will challenge Auden’s very narrow definition of crime fiction and suggest how Auden’s religious imagery, deployed to explain why many people choose to read crime fiction, can be incorporated into a broader popular discourse on punishment. This latter argument demonstrates that a taste for crime fiction and a taste for justice are inextricably intertwined. Crime Fiction: A Type For Every Taste Cathy Cole has observed that “crime novels are housed in their own section in many bookshops, separated from literary novels much as you’d keep a child with measles away from the rest of the class” (116). Times have changed. So too, have our tastes. Crime fiction, once sequestered in corners, now demands vast tracts of prime real estate in bookstores allowing readers to “make their way to the appropriate shelves, and begin to browse […] sorting through a wide variety of very different types of novels” (Malmgren 115). This is a result of the sheer size of the genre, noted above, as well as the genre’s expanding scope. Indeed, those who worked to re-invent crime fiction in the 1800s could not have envisaged the “taxonomic exuberance” (Derrida 206) of the writers who have defined crime fiction sub-genres, as well as how readers would respond by not only wanting to read crime fiction but also wanting to read many different types of crime fiction tailored to their particular tastes. To understand the demand for this diversity, it is important to reflect upon some of the appeal factors of crime fiction for readers. Many rules have been promulgated for the writers of crime fiction to follow. Ronald Knox produced a set of 10 rules in 1928. These included Rule 3 “Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable”, and Rule 10 “Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them” (194–6). In the same year, S.S. Van Dine produced another list of 20 rules, which included Rule 3 “There must be no love interest: The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar”, and Rule 7 “There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better” (189–93). Some of these directives have been deliberately ignored or have become out-of-date over time while others continue to be followed in contemporary crime writing practice. In sharp contrast, there are no rules for reading this genre. Individuals are, generally, free to choose what, where, when, why, and how they read crime fiction. There are, however, different appeal factors for readers. The most common of these appeal factors, often described as doorways, are story, setting, character, and language. As the following passage explains: The story doorway beckons those who enjoy reading to find out what happens next. The setting doorway opens widest for readers who enjoy being immersed in an evocation of place or time. The doorway of character is for readers who enjoy looking at the world through others’ eyes. Readers who most appreciate skilful writing enter through the doorway of language (Wyatt online). These doorways draw readers to the crime fiction genre. There are stories that allow us to easily predict what will come next or make us hold our breath until the very last page, the books that we will cheerfully lend to a family member or a friend and those that we keep close to hand to re-read again and again. There are settings as diverse as country manors, exotic locations, and familiar city streets, places we have been and others that we might want to explore. There are characters such as the accidental sleuth, the hardboiled detective, and the refined police officer, amongst many others, the men and women—complete with idiosyncrasies and flaws—who we have grown to admire and trust. There is also the language that all writers, regardless of genre, depend upon to tell their tales. In crime fiction, even the most basic task of describing where the murder victim was found can range from words that convey the genteel—“The room of the tragedy” (Christie 62)—to the absurd: “There it was, jammed between a pallet load of best export boneless beef and half a tonne of spring lamb” (Maloney 1). These appeal factors indicate why readers might choose crime fiction over another genre, or choose one type of crime fiction over another. Yet such factors fail to explain what crime fiction is or adequately answer why the genre is devoured in such vast quantities. Firstly, crime fiction stories are those in which there is the committing of a crime, or at least the suspicion of a crime (Cole), and the story that unfolds revolves around the efforts of an amateur or professional detective to solve that crime (Scaggs). Secondly, crime fiction offers the reassurance of resolution, a guarantee that from “previous experience and from certain cultural conventions associated with this genre that ultimately the mystery will be fully explained” (Zunshine 122). For Auden, the definition of the crime novel was quite specific, and he argued that referring to the genre by “the vulgar definition, ‘a Whodunit’ is correct” (407). Auden went on to offer a basic formula stating that: “a murder occurs; many are suspected; all but one suspect, who is the murderer, are eliminated; the murderer is arrested or dies” (407). The idea of a formula is certainly a useful one, particularly when production demands—in terms of both quality and quantity—are so high, because the formula facilitates creators in the “rapid and efficient production of new works” (Cawelti 9). For contemporary crime fiction readers, the doorways to reading, discussed briefly above, have been cast wide open. Stories relying upon the basic crime fiction formula as a foundation can be gothic tales, clue puzzles, forensic procedurals, spy thrillers, hardboiled narratives, or violent crime narratives, amongst many others. The settings can be quiet villages or busy metropolises, landscapes that readers actually inhabit or that provide a form of affordable tourism. These stories can be set in the past, the here and now, or the future. Characters can range from Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin to Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade, from Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple to Kerry Greenwood’s Honourable Phryne Fisher. Similarly, language can come in numerous styles from the direct (even rough) words of Carter Brown to the literary prose of Peter Temple. Anything is possible, meaning everything is available to readers. For Auden—although he required a crime to be committed and expected that crime to be resolved—these doorways were only slightly ajar. For him, the story had to be a Whodunit; the setting had to be rural England, though a college setting was also considered suitable; the characters had to be “eccentric (aesthetically interesting individuals) and good (instinctively ethical)” and there needed to be a “completely satisfactory detective” (Sherlock Holmes, Inspector French, and Father Brown were identified as “satisfactory”); and the language descriptive and detailed (406, 409, 408). To illustrate this point, Auden’s concept of crime fiction has been plotted on a taxonomy, below, that traces the genre’s main developments over a period of three centuries. As can be seen, much of what is, today, taken for granted as being classified as crime fiction is completely excluded from Auden’s ideal. Figure 1: Taxonomy of Crime Fiction (Adapted from Franks, Murder 136) Crime Fiction: A Personal Journey I discovered crime fiction the summer before I started high school when I saw the film version of The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. A few days after I had seen the film I started reading the Raymond Chandler novel of the same title, featuring his famous detective Philip Marlowe, and was transfixed by the second paragraph: The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armour rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the visor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn’t seem to be really trying (9). John Scaggs has written that this passage indicates Marlowe is an idealised figure, a knight of romance rewritten onto the mean streets of mid-20th century Los Angeles (62); a relocation Susan Roland calls a “secular form of the divinely sanctioned knight errant on a quest for metaphysical justice” (139): my kind of guy. Like many young people I looked for adventure and escape in books, a search that was realised with Raymond Chandler and his contemporaries. On the escapism scale, these men with their stories of tough-talking detectives taking on murderers and other criminals, law enforcement officers, and the occasional femme fatale, were certainly a sharp upgrade from C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. After reading the works written by the pioneers of the hardboiled and roman noir traditions, I looked to other American authors such as Edgar Allan Poe who, in the mid-1800s, became the father of the modern detective story, and Thorne Smith who, in the 1920s and 1930s, produced magical realist tales with characters who often chose to dabble on the wrong side of the law. This led me to the works of British crime writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers. My personal library then became dominated by Australian writers of crime fiction, from the stories of bushrangers and convicts of the Colonial era to contemporary tales of police and private investigators. There have been various attempts to “improve” or “refine” my tastes: to convince me that serious literature is real reading and frivolous fiction is merely a distraction. Certainly, the reading of those novels, often described as classics, provide perfect combinations of beauty and brilliance. Their narratives, however, do not often result in satisfactory endings. This routinely frustrates me because, while I understand the philosophical frameworks that many writers operate within, I believe the characters of such works are too often treated unfairly in the final pages. For example, at the end of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Frederick Henry “left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain” after his son is stillborn and “Mrs Henry” becomes “very ill” and dies (292–93). Another example can be found on the last page of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four when Winston Smith “gazed up at the enormous face” and he realised that he “loved Big Brother” (311). Endings such as these provide a space for reflection about the world around us but rarely spark an immediate response of how great that world is to live in (Franks Motive). The subject matter of crime fiction does not easily facilitate fairy-tale finishes, yet, people continue to read the genre because, generally, the concluding chapter will show that justice, of some form, will be done. Punishment will be meted out to the ‘bad characters’ that have broken society’s moral or legal laws; the ‘good characters’ may experience hardships and may suffer but they will, generally, prevail. Crime Fiction: A Taste For Justice Superimposed upon Auden’s parameters around crime fiction, are his ideas of the law in the real world and how such laws are interwoven with the Christian-based system of ethics. This can be seen in Auden’s listing of three classes of crime: “(a) offenses against God and one’s neighbor or neighbors; (b) offenses against God and society; (c) offenses against God” (407). Murder, in Auden’s opinion, is a class (b) offense: for the crime fiction novel, the society reflected within the story should be one in “a state of grace, i.e., a society where there is no need of the law, no contradiction between the aesthetic individual and the ethical universal, and where murder, therefore, is the unheard-of act which precipitates a crisis” (408). Additionally, in the crime novel “as in its mirror image, the Quest for the Grail, maps (the ritual of space) and timetables (the ritual of time) are desirable. Nature should reflect its human inhabitants, i.e., it should be the Great Good Place; for the more Eden-like it is, the greater the contradiction of murder” (408). Thus, as Charles J. Rzepka notes, “according to W.H. Auden, the ‘classical’ English detective story typically re-enacts rites of scapegoating and expulsion that affirm the innocence of a community of good people supposedly ignorant of evil” (12). This premise—of good versus evil—supports Auden’s claim that the punishment of wrongdoers, particularly those who claim the “right to be omnipotent” and commit murder (409), should be swift and final: As to the murderer’s end, of the three alternatives—execution, suicide, and madness—the first is preferable; for if he commits suicide he refuses to repent, and if he goes mad he cannot repent, but if he does not repent society cannot forgive. Execution, on the other hand, is the act of atonement by which the murderer is forgiven by society (409). The unilateral endorsement of state-sanctioned murder is problematic, however, because—of the main justifications for punishment: retribution; deterrence; incapacitation; and rehabilitation (Carter Snead 1245)—punishment, in this context, focuses exclusively upon retribution and deterrence, incapacitation is achieved by default, but the idea of rehabilitation is completely ignored. This, in turn, ignores how the reading of crime fiction can be incorporated into a broader popular discourse on punishment and how a taste for crime fiction and a taste for justice are inextricably intertwined. One of the ways to explore the connection between crime fiction and justice is through the lens of Emile Durkheim’s thesis on the conscience collective which proposes punishment is a process allowing for the demonstration of group norms and the strengthening of moral boundaries. David Garland, in summarising this thesis, states: So although the modern state has a near monopoly of penal violence and controls the administration of penalties, a much wider population feels itself to be involved in the process of punishment, and supplies the context of social support and valorization within which state punishment takes place (32). It is claimed here that this “much wider population” connecting with the task of punishment can be taken further. Crime fiction, above all other forms of literary production, which, for those who do not directly contribute to the maintenance of their respective legal systems, facilitates a feeling of active participation in the penalising of a variety of perpetrators: from the issuing of fines to incarceration (Franks Punishment). Crime fiction readers are therefore, temporarily at least, direct contributors to a more stable society: one that is clearly based upon right and wrong and reliant upon the conscience collective to maintain and reaffirm order. In this context, the reader is no longer alone, with only their crime fiction novel for company, but has become an active member of “a moral framework which binds individuals to each other and to its conventions and institutions” (Garland 51). This allows crime fiction, once viewed as a “vice” (Wilson 395) or an “addiction” (Auden 406), to be seen as playing a crucial role in the preservation of social mores. It has been argued “only the most literal of literary minds would dispute the claim that fictional characters help shape the way we think of ourselves, and hence help us articulate more clearly what it means to be human” (Galgut 190). Crime fiction focuses on what it means to be human, and how complex humans are, because stories of murders, and the men and women who perpetrate and solve them, comment on what drives some people to take a life and others to avenge that life which is lost and, by extension, engages with a broad community of readers around ideas of justice and punishment. It is, furthermore, argued here that the idea of the story is one of the more important doorways for crime fiction and, more specifically, the conclusions that these stories, traditionally, offer. For Auden, the ending should be one of restoration of the spirit, as he suspected that “the typical reader of detective stories is, like myself, a person who suffers from a sense of sin” (411). In this way, the “phantasy, then, which the detective story addict indulges is the phantasy of being restored to the Garden of Eden, to a state of innocence, where he may know love as love and not as the law” (412), indicating that it was not necessarily an accident that “the detective story has flourished most in predominantly Protestant countries” (408). Today, modern crime fiction is a “broad church, where talented authors raise questions and cast light on a variety of societal and other issues through the prism of an exciting, page-turning story” (Sisterson). Moreover, our tastes in crime fiction have been tempered by a growing fear of real crime, particularly murder, “a crime of unique horror” (Hitchens 200). This has seen some readers develop a taste for crime fiction that is not produced within a framework of ecclesiastical faith but is rather grounded in reliance upon those who enact punishment in both the fictional and real worlds. As P.D. James has written: [N]ot by luck or divine intervention, but by human ingenuity, human intelligence and human courage. It confirms our hope that, despite some evidence to the contrary, we live in a beneficent and moral universe in which problems can be solved by rational means and peace and order restored from communal or personal disruption and chaos (174). Dorothy L. Sayers, despite her work to legitimise crime fiction, wrote that there: “certainly does seem a possibility that the detective story will some time come to an end, simply because the public will have learnt all the tricks” (108). Of course, many readers have “learnt all the tricks”, or most of them. This does not, however, detract from the genre’s overall appeal. We have not grown bored with, or become tired of, the formula that revolves around good and evil, and justice and punishment. Quite the opposite. Our knowledge of, as well as our faith in, the genre’s “tricks” gives a level of confidence to readers who are looking for endings that punish murderers and other wrongdoers, allowing for more satisfactory conclusions than the, rather depressing, ends given to Mr. Henry and Mr. Smith by Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell noted above. Conclusion For some, the popularity of crime fiction is a curious case indeed. When Penguin and Collins published the Marsh Million—100,000 copies each of 10 Ngaio Marsh titles in 1949—the author’s relief at the success of the project was palpable when she commented that “it was pleasant to find detective fiction being discussed as a tolerable form of reading by people whose opinion one valued” (172). More recently, upon the announcement that a Miles Franklin Award would be given to Peter Temple for his crime novel Truth, John Sutherland, a former chairman of the judges for one of the world’s most famous literary awards, suggested that submitting a crime novel for the Booker Prize would be: “like putting a donkey into the Grand National”. Much like art, fashion, food, and home furnishings or any one of the innumerable fields of activity and endeavour that are subject to opinion, there will always be those within the world of fiction who claim positions as arbiters of taste. Yet reading is intensely personal. I like a strong, well-plotted story, appreciate a carefully researched setting, and can admire elegant language, but if a character is too difficult to embrace—if I find I cannot make an emotional connection, if I find myself ambivalent about their fate—then a book is discarded as not being to my taste. It is also important to recognise that some tastes are transient. Crime fiction stories that are popular today could be forgotten tomorrow. Some stories appeal to such a broad range of tastes they are immediately included in the crime fiction canon. Yet others evolve over time to accommodate widespread changes in taste (an excellent example of this can be seen in the continual re-imagining of the stories of Sherlock Holmes). Personal tastes also adapt to our experiences and our surroundings. A book that someone adores in their 20s might be dismissed in their 40s. A storyline that was meaningful when read abroad may lose some of its magic when read at home. Personal events, from a change in employment to the loss of a loved one, can also impact upon what we want to read. Similarly, world events, such as economic crises and military conflicts, can also influence our reading preferences. Auden professed an almost insatiable appetite for crime fiction, describing the reading of detective stories as an addiction, and listed a very specific set of criteria to define the Whodunit. Today, such self-imposed restrictions are rare as, while there are many rules for writing crime fiction, there are no rules for reading this (or any other) genre. People are, generally, free to choose what, where, when, why, and how they read crime fiction, and to follow the deliberate or whimsical paths that their tastes may lay down for them. Crime fiction writers, past and present, offer: an incredible array of detective stories from the locked room to the clue puzzle; settings that range from the English country estate to city skyscrapers in glamorous locations around the world; numerous characters from cerebral sleuths who can solve a crime in their living room over a nice, hot cup of tea to weapon wielding heroes who track down villains on foot in darkened alleyways; and, language that ranges from the cultured conversations from the novels of the genre’s Golden Age to the hard-hitting terminology of forensic and legal procedurals. Overlaid on these appeal factors is the capacity of crime fiction to feed a taste for justice: to engage, vicariously at least, in the establishment of a more stable society. Of course, there are those who turn to the genre for a temporary distraction, an occasional guilty pleasure. There are those who stumble across the genre by accident or deliberately seek it out. There are also those, like Auden, who are addicted to crime fiction. So there are corpses for the conservative and dead bodies for the bloodthirsty. There is, indeed, a murder victim, and a murder story, to suit every reader’s taste. References Auden, W.H. “The Guilty Vicarage: Notes on The Detective Story, By an Addict.” Harper’s Magazine May (1948): 406–12. 1 Dec. 2013 ‹http://www.harpers.org/archive/1948/05/0033206›. Carter Snead, O. “Memory and Punishment.” Vanderbilt Law Review 64.4 (2011): 1195–264. Cawelti, John G. Adventure, Mystery and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular Culture. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976/1977. Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. London: Penguin, 1939/1970. ––. The Simple Art of Murder. New York: Vintage Books, 1950/1988. Christie, Agatha. The Mysterious Affair at Styles. London: HarperCollins, 1920/2007. Cole, Cathy. Private Dicks and Feisty Chicks: An Interrogation of Crime Fiction. Fremantle: Curtin UP, 2004. Derrida, Jacques. “The Law of Genre.” Glyph 7 (1980): 202–32. Franks, Rachel. “May I Suggest Murder?: An Overview of Crime Fiction for Readers’ Advisory Services Staff.” Australian Library Journal 60.2 (2011): 133–43. ––. “Motive for Murder: Reading Crime Fiction.” The Australian Library and Information Association Biennial Conference. Sydney: Jul. 2012. ––. “Punishment by the Book: Delivering and Evading Punishment in Crime Fiction.” Inter-Disciplinary.Net 3rd Global Conference on Punishment. Oxford: Sep. 2013. Freeman, R.A. “The Art of the Detective Story.” The Art of the Mystery Story: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Howard Haycraft. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1924/1947. 7–17. Galgut, E. “Poetic Faith and Prosaic Concerns: A Defense of Suspension of Disbelief.” South African Journal of Philosophy 21.3 (2002): 190–99. Garland, David. Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1993. Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. London: Random House, 1929/2004. ––. in R. Chandler. The Simple Art of Murder. New York: Vintage Books, 1950/1988. Hitchens, P. A Brief History of Crime: The Decline of Order, Justice and Liberty in England. London: Atlantic Books, 2003. James, P.D. Talking About Detective Fiction. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Knight, Stephen. Crime Fiction since 1800: Death, Detection, Diversity, 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2010. Knox, Ronald A. “Club Rules: The 10 Commandments for Detective Novelists, 1928.” Ronald Knox Society of North America. 1 Dec. 2013 ‹http://www.ronaldknoxsociety.com/detective.html›. Malmgren, C.D. “Anatomy of Murder: Mystery, Detective and Crime Fiction.” Journal of Popular Culture Spring (1997): 115–21. Maloney, Shane. The Murray Whelan Trilogy: Stiff, The Brush-Off and Nice Try. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1994/2008. Marsh, Ngaio in J. Drayton. Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime. Auckland: Harper Collins, 2008. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books, 1949/1989. Roland, Susan. From Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell: British Women Writers in Detective and Crime Fiction. London: Palgrave, 2001. Rzepka, Charles J. Detective Fiction. Cambridge: Polity, 2005. Sayers, Dorothy L. “The Omnibus of Crime.” The Art of the Mystery Story: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Howard Haycraft. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1928/1947. 71–109. Scaggs, John. Crime Fiction: The New Critical Idiom. London: Routledge, 2005. Sisterson, C. “Battle for the Marsh: Awards 2013.” Black Mask: Pulps, Noir and News of Same. 1 Jan. 2014 http://www.blackmask.com/category/awards-2013/ Sutherland, John. in A. Flood. “Could Miles Franklin turn the Booker Prize to Crime?” The Guardian. 1 Jan. 2014 ‹http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/25/miles-franklin-booker-prize-crime›. Van Dine, S.S. “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.” The Art of the Mystery Story: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Howard Haycraft. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1928/1947. 189-93. Wilson, Edmund. “Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd.” The Art of the Mystery Story: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Howard Haycraft. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944/1947. 390–97. Wyatt, N. “Redefining RA: A RA Big Think.” Library Journal Online. 1 Jan. 2014 ‹http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2007/07/ljarchives/lj-series-redefining-ra-an-ra-big-think›. Zunshine, Lisa. Why We Read Fiction: Theory of Mind and the Novel. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2006.

Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. Print. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design, Brian Selznick is an illustrator of children’s books and a professional puppeteer. He has received a Caldecott Honor Award for his illustrations in Barbara Kerley’s The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. In 2008, Selznick’s bestselling novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, was awarded a Caldecott Medal. Wonderstruck, a book aimed at readers aged 9 and older, tells the story of two children from two different time periods. A boy who has recently lost his mother finds a mysterious clue that leads him in search of his father. In a parallel storyline taking place 50 years earlier, a deaf girl runs away from home, seeking a famous actress. Each child’s quest eventually leads to New York’s American Museum of Natural History where they discover the wonders it contains. Following the format used in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, beautiful black and white illustrations combine with vivid descriptions and an engaging story. Selznick skillfully alternates between the two storylines and weaves them together. The hybrid of text and images will appeal to readers who enjoy visual aspects of the graphic novel genre. Readers who revelled in the museum intrigue of E.L. Konigsberg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will find this book a treat. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Maria Tan Maria is a Public Services Librarian at the University of Alberta’s H. T. Coutts Education Library. She enjoys travelling and visiting unique and far-flung libraries. An avid foodie, Maria’s motto is, “There’s really no good reason to stop the flow of snacks”.

AWARDSSome major international children’s literature awards have just been announced as I compile the news for this issue. Several of these have Canadian connections.2016 ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Book & Media Award WinnersJohn Newbery Medal"Last Stop on Market Street,” written by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Books (USA) LLC Newbery Honor Books"The War that Saved My Life," written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Books (USA) LLC“Roller Girl,” written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Books (USA) LLC“Echo,” written by Pam Muñoz Ryan and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.Randolph Caldecott Medal"Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear," illustrated by Sophie Blackall, written by Lindsay Mattick and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.Caldecott Honor Books"Trombone Shorty," illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Troy Andrews and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS“Waiting,” illustrated and written by Kevin Henkes, published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers“Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement,” illustrated by Ekua Holmes, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Candlewick Press“Last Stop on Market Street,” illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de le Peña and published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Books (USA) LLC Laura Ingalls Wilder AwardJerry Pinkney -- His award-winning works include “The Lion and the Mouse,” recipient of the Caldecott Award in 2010. In addition, Pinkney has received five Caldecott Honor Awards, five Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards, and four Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors. 2017 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture AwardJacqueline Woodson will deliver the 2017 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir, “Brown Girl Dreaming.” Mildred L. Batchelder Award“The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy,” published by Enchanted Lion Books, written and illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna, and translated from the French by Claudia Zoe BedrickBatchelder Honor Books“Adam and Thomas,” published by Seven Stories Press, written by Aharon Appelfeld, iIllustrated by Philippe Dumas and translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green“Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village,” published by NorthSouth Books, an imprint of Nordsüd Verlag AG, written by Fang Suzhen, iIllustrated by Sonja Danowski and translated from the Chinese by Huang Xiumin“Written and Drawn by Henrietta,” published by TOON Books, an imprint of RAW Junior, LLC and written, illustrated, and translated from the Spanish by Liniers.Pura Belpre (Author) Award“Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir," written by Margarita Engle and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing DivisionBelpre (Author) Honor Books"The Smoking Mirror," written by David Bowles and published by IFWG Publishing, Inc."Mango, Abuela, and Me," written by Meg Medina, illustrated by Angela Dominguez and published by Candlewick PressPura Belpre (Illustrator) Award"The Drum Dream Girl," illustrated by Rafael López, written by Margarita Engle and published by Houghton Mifflin HarcourtBelpre (Illustrator) Honor Books"My Tata’s Remedies = Los remedios de mi tata,” iIllustrated by Antonio Castro L., written by Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford and published by Cinco Puntos Press“Mango, Abuela, and Me,” illustrated by Angela Dominguez, written by Meg Medina and published by Candlewick Press“Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras,” illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMSAndrew Carnegie Medal "That Is NOT a Good Idea," produced by Weston Woods Studios, Inc.Theodor Seuss Geisel Award"Don’t Throw It to Mo!" written by David A. Adler, illustrated by Sam Ricks and published by Penguin Young Readers, and imprint of Penguin Group (USA), LLCGeisel Honor Books "A Pig, a Fox, and a Box," written and illustrated by Jonathan Fenske and published by Penguin Young Readers, an Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC"Supertruck," written and illustrated by Stephen Savage and published by A Neal Porter Book published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership"Waiting," written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes and published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Odyssey Award"The War that Saved My Life," produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and narrated by Jayne EntwistleOdyssey Honor Audiobook"Echo," produced by Scholastic Audio / Paul R. Gagne, written by Pam Munoz Ryan and narrated by Mark Bramhall, David De Vries, MacLeod Andrews and Rebecca SolerRobert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal"Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras,” written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMSSibert Honor Books"Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans," written and illustrated by Don Brown and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt"The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club," by Phillip Hoose and published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers"Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March," written by Lynda Blackmon Lowery as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley, illustrated by PJ Loughran and published by Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC"Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement," written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Ekua Holmes and published by Candlewick PressCONFERENCES & EVENTSThis 2016 is shaping up to be a busy year for those of us involved with Canadian children’s literature. To tantalize your appetite (and encourage you to get involved) here are some highlights:January:Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable event: A Celebration of BC’s Award Children’s Authors and Illustrators with special guests Rachel Hartman and the Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada 2015 Information Book Award winners Margriet Ruurs & Katherine Gibson, January 27, 2016, 7 – 9 pm. Creekside Community Centre, 1 Athletes Way, Vancouver. Free to members and students.April:Wordpower programs from the Young Alberta Book Society feature teams of Albertan children’s literary artists touring to schools in rural areas. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Cenovus Energy, schools unable to book artist visits due to prohibitive travel costs are able to participate.April 4-8: Wordpower South will send 8 artist teams to communities roughly between Drumheller and Medicine Hat. Artists include Karen Bass, Lorna Shultz-Nicholson, Bethany Ellis, Marty Chan, Mary Hays, Sigmund Brouwer, Carolyn Fisher, Natasha DeenApril 25-29: Wordpower North will have a team of 8 artists traveling among communities in north-eastern Alberta such as Fort MacKay, Conklin, Wabasca, Lac La Biche, Cold Lake, and Bonnyville. The artists include Kathy Jessup, Lois Donovan, Deborah Miller, David Poulsen, Gail de Vos, Karen Spafford-Fitz, Hazel Hutchins, Georgia Graham May: COMICS AND CONTEMPORARY LITERACY: May 2, 2016; 8:30am - 4:30pm at the Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary. This is a one day conference featuring presentations and a workshop by leading authors, scholars, and illustrators from the world of comics and graphic novels. This conference is the 5th in the annual 'Linguistic Diversity and Language Policy' series sponsored by the Chair, English as an Additional Language, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Tom Ricento is the current Chair-holder. The conference is free and lunch is provided. Seating is limited, so register early. The four presenters are:Jillian Tamaki, illustrator for This One Summer, and winner of the Governor General's Award for children's illustration.Richard van Camp, best-selling author of The Lesser Blessed and Three Feathers, and member of the Dogrib Nation.Dr. Nick Sousanis, post-doctoral scholar, teacher and creator of the philosophical comic Unflattening.Dr. Bart Beaty, University of Calgary professor, acclaimed comics scholar and author of Comics vs. Art TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2016. In 2016, the Canadian Children's Book Centre celebrates 40 years of bringing great Canadian children's books to young readers across the country and the annual TD Canadian Children’s Book Week will be occurring this May across Canada. The theme this year is the celebration of these 40 years of great books written, illustrated and published in Canada as well as stories that have been told over the years. The 2016 tour of storytellers, authors and illustrators and their area of travel are as follows:Alberta: Bob Graham, storyteller; Kate Jaimet, authorBritish Columbia (Interior region) Lisa Dalrymple, author; (Lower Mainland region) Graham Ross, illustrator; (Vancouver Island region) Wesley King, author; (Northern region, Rebecca Bender, author & illustrator.Manitoba: Angela Misri, author; Allison Van Diepen, authorNew Brunswick: Mary Ann Lippiatt, storytellerNewfoundland: Maureen Fergus, authorLabrador: Sharon Jennings, authorNorthwest Territories: Geneviève Després, illustratorNova Scotia: Judith Graves, authorNunavut: Gabrielle Grimard, illustratorOntario: Karen Autio, author; Marty Chan, author; Danika Dinsmore, author; Kallie George, author; Doretta Groenendyk, author & illustrator; Alison Hughes, author; Margriet Ruurs, author.Prince Edward Island: Wallace Edwards, author & illustratorQuebec (English-language tour): LM Falcone, author; Simon Rose, author; Kean Soo, author & illustrator; Robin Stevenson, author; and Tiffany Stone, author/poet.Saskatchewan: (Saskatoon and northern area) Donna Dudinsky, storyteller; (Moose Jaw/Regina and southern area) Sarah Ellis, authorYukon: Vicki Grant, author-----Gail de Vos is an adjunct professor who teaches courses on Canadian children's literature, young adult literature, and comic books & graphic novels at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at the University of Alberta. She is the author of nine books on storytelling and folklore. Gail is also a professional storyteller who has taught the storytelling course at SLIS for over two decades.

Introduction «I have never worked in the technocratic exaltation, solving a constructive problem and that’s it. I’ve always tried to interpret the space of human life» (Vittorio Garatti). Vittorio Garatti (Milan, April 6, 1927) is certainly one of the last witnesses of one “heroic” season of Italian architecture. In 1957 he graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan with a thesis proposing the redesign of a portion of the historic centre of Milan: the area between “piazza della Scala”, “via Broletto”, “via Filodrammatici” and the gardens of the former Olivetti building in via Clerici. These are the years in which Ernesto Nathan Rogers established himself as one of the main personalities of Milanese culture. Garatti endorses the criticism expressed by Rogers to the approval of the Rationalist “language” in favour of an architecture that recovers the implications of the place and of material culture. The social responsibility of architecture and connections between architecture and other forms of artistic expression are the invariants of all the activity of the architect, artist and graphic designer of Garatti. It will be Ernesto Nathan Rogers who will offer him the possibility of experiencing these “contaminations” early: in 1954, together with Giuliano Cesari, Raffaella Crespi, Giampiero Pallavicini and Ferruccio Rezzonico, he designs the preparation of the exhibition on musical instruments at the 10th Milan Triennale. The temporary installations will be a privileged area in which Garatti will continue to experiment and integrate the qualities of artist, graphic designer and architect with each other. Significant examples of this approach are the Art Schools in Cuba 1961-63, the residential complex of Cusano Milanino in 1973, the Attico Cosimo del Fante in 1980, the fittings for the Bubasty shops in 1984, the Camogli residence in 1986, his house atelier in Brera in 1988 and the interiors of the Hotel Gallia in 1989. True architecture generates itself1: an approach that was consolidated over the years of collaboration with Raúl Villanueva in Venezuela and is fulfilled in Cuba in the project of the Art Schools, where Garatti makes use of a plurality of tools that cannot be rigidly confined to the world of architecture. In 1957, in Caracas, he came into contact with Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi. Ricardo Porro, who returned to Cuba in 1960, will be the one to involve Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi in the Escuelas Nacional de Arte project. The three young architects will be the protagonists of a happy season of the architecture of the Revolution, they will be crossed by that “revolutionary” energy that Ricardo Porro has defined as “magical realism”. As Garatti recalls: it was a special moment. We designed the Schools using a method developed in Venezuela. We started from an analysis of the context, understood not only as physical reality. We studied Cuban poets and painters. Wifredo Lam was a great reference. For example, Lezama Lima’s work is clearly recalled in the plan of the School of Ballet. We were pervaded by the spirit of the revolution. The contamination between knowledge and disciplines, the belief that architecture is a “parasitic” discipline are some of the themes at the centre of the conversation that follows, from which a working method that recognizes architecture as a “social transformation” task emerges, more precisely an art with a social purpose. Garatti often cites Porro’s definition of architecture: architecture is the poetic frame within which human life takes place. To Garatti architecture is a self-generating process, and as such it cannot find fulfilment within its disciplinary specificity: the disciplinary autonomy is a contradiction in terms. Architecture cannot be self-referencing, it generates itself precisely because it finds the sense of its social responsibility outside of itself. No concession to trends, to self-referencing, to the “objectification of architecture”, to its spectacularization. Garatti as Eupalino Valery shuns “mute architectures” and instead prefers singing architectures. A Dialogue of Luigi Alini with Vittorio Garatti Luigi Alini. Let’s start with some personal data. Vittorio Garatti. I was born in Milan on April 6, 1927. My friend Emilio Vedova told me that life could be considered as a sequence of encounters with people, places and facts. My sculptor grandfather played an important role in my life. I inherited the ability to perceive the dimensional quality of space, its plasticity, spatial vision from him. L.A. Your youth training took place in a dramatic phase of history of our country. Living in Milan during the war years must not have been easy. V.G. In October 1942 in Milan there was one of the most tragic bombings that the city has suffered. A bomb exploded in front of the Brera Academy, where the Dalmine offices were located. With a group of boys we went to the rooftops. We saw the city from above, with the roofs partially destroyed. I still carry this image inside me, it is part of that museum of memory that Luciano Semerani often talks about. This image probably resurfaced when I designed the ballet school. The idea of a promenade on the roofs to observe the landscape came from this. L.A. You joined the Faculty of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic in May 1946-47. V.G. Milan and Italy were like in those years. The impact with the University was not positive, I was disappointed with the quality of the studies. L.A. You have had an intense relationship with the artists who gravitate around Brera, which you have always considered very important for your training. V.G. In 1948 I met Ilio Negri, a graphic designer. Also at Brera there was a group of artists (Morlotti, Chighine, Dova, Crippa) who frequented the Caffè Brera, known as “Bar della Titta”. Thanks to these visits I had the opportunity to broaden my knowledge. As you know, I maintain that there are life’s appointments and lightning strikes. The release of Dada magazine provided real enlightenment for me: I discovered the work of Kurt Schwitters, Theo Van Doesburg, the value of the image and three-dimensionality. L.A. You collaborated on several projects with Ilio Negri. V.G. In 1955 we created the graphics of the Lagostina brand, which was then also used for the preparation of the exhibition at the “Fiera Campionaria” in Milan. We also worked together for the Lerici steel industry. There was an extraordinary interaction with Ilio. L.A. The cultural influence of Ernesto Nathan Rogers was strong in the years you studied at the Milan Polytechnic. He influenced the cultural debate by establishing himself as one of the main personalities of the Milanese architectural scene through the activity of the BBPR studio but even more so through the direction of Domus (from ‘46 to ‘47) and Casabella Continuità (from ‘53 to ‘65). V.G. When I enrolled at the university he was not yet a full professor and he was very opposed. As you know, he coined the phrase: God created the architect, the devil created the colleague. In some ways it is a phrase that makes me rethink the words of Ernesto Che Guevara: beware of bureaucrats, because they can delay a revolution for 50 years. Rogers was the man of culture and the old “bureaucratic” apparatus feared that his entry into the University would sanction the end of their “domain”. L.A. In 1954, together with Giuliano Cesari, Raffella Crespi, Giampiero Pallavicini and Ferruccio Rezzonico, all graduating students of the Milan Polytechnic, you designed the staging of the exhibition on musical instruments at the 10th Milan Triennale. V.G. The project for the Exhibition of Musical Instruments at the Milan Triennale was commissioned by Rogers, with whom I subsequently collaborated for the preparation of the graphic part of the Castello Sforzesco Museum, together with Ilio Negri. We were given a very small budget for this project. We decided to prepare a sequence of horizontal planes hanging in a void. These tops also acted as spacers, preventing people from touching the tools. Among those exhibited there were some very valuable ones. We designed slender structures to be covered with rice paper. The solution pleased Rogers very much, who underlined the dialogue that was generated between the exhibited object and the display system. L.A. You graduated on March 14, 1957. V.G. The project theme that I developed for the thesis was the reconstruction of Piazza della Scala. While all the other classmates were doing “lecorbusierani” projects without paying much attention to the context, for my part I worked trying to have a vision of the city. I tried to bring out the specificities of that place with a vision that Ernesto Nathan Rogers had brought me to. I then found this vision of the city in the work of Giuseppe De Finetti. I tried to re-propose a vision of space and its “atmospheres”, a theme that Alberto Savinio also refers to in Listen to your heart city, from 1944. L.A. How was your work received by the thesis commission? V.G. It was judged too “formal” by Emiliano Gandolfi, but Piero Portaluppi did not express himself positively either. The project did not please. Also consider the cultural climate of the University of those years, everyone followed the international style of the CIAM. I was not very satisfied with the evaluation expressed by the commissioners, they said that the project was “Piranesian”, too baroque. The critique of culture rationalist was not appreciated. Only at IUAV was there any great cultural ferment thanks to Bruno Zevi. L.A. After graduation, you left for Venezuela. V.G. With my wife Wanda, in 1957 I joined my parents in Caracas. In Venezuela I got in touch with Paolo Gasparini, an extraordinary Italian photographer, Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi, who came from Venice and had worked in Ernesto Nathan Rogers’ studio in Milan. Ricardo Porro worked in the office of Carlos Raúl Villanueva. The Cuban writer and literary critic Alejo Carpentier also lived in Caracas at that time. L.A. Carlos Raul Villanueva was one of the protagonists of Venezuelan architecture. His critical position in relation to the Modern Movement and the belief that it was necessary to find an “adaptation” to the specificities of local traditions, the characteristics of the places and the Venezuelan environment, I believe, marked your subsequent Cuban experience with the creative recovery of some elements of traditional architecture such as the portico, the patio, but also the use of traditional materials and technologies that you have masterfully reinterpreted. I think we can also add to these “themes” the connections between architecture and plastic arts. You also become a professor of Architectural Design at the Escuela de Arquitectura of the Central University of Caracas. V.G. On this academic experience I will tell you a statement by Porro that struck me very much: The important thing was not what I knew, I did not have sufficient knowledge and experience. What I could pass on to the students was above all a passion. In two years of teaching I was able to deepen, understand things better and understand how to pass them on to students. The Faculty of Architecture had recently been established and this I believe contributed to fuel the great enthusiasm that emerges from the words by Porro. Porro favoured mine and Gottardi’s entry as teachers. Keep in mind that in those years Villanueva was one of the most influential Venezuelan intellectuals and had played a leading role in the transformation of the University. Villanueva was very attentive to the involvement of art in architecture, just think of the magnificent project for the Universidad Central in Caracas, where he worked together with artists such as the sculptor Calder. I had recently graduated and found myself catapulted into academic activity. It was a strange feeling for a young architect who graduated with a minimum grade. At the University I was entrusted with the Architectural Design course. The relationships with the context, the recovery of some elements of tradition were at the centre of the interests developed with the students. Among these students I got to know the one who in the future became my chosen “brother”: Sergio Baroni. Together we designed all the services for the 23rd district that Carlos Raúl Villanueva had planned to solve the favelas problem. In these years of Venezuelan frequentation, Porro also opened the doors of Cuba to me. Through Porro I got to know the work of Josè Martì, who claimed: cult para eser libre. I also approached the work of Josè Lezama Lima, in my opinion one of the most interesting Cuban intellectuals, and the painting of Wilfredo Lam. L.A. In December 1959 the Revolution triumphed in Cuba. Ricardo Porro returned to Cuba in August 1960. You and Gottardi would join him in December and begin teaching at the Facultad de Arcuitectura. Your contribution to the training of young students took place in a moment of radical cultural change within which the task of designing the Schools was also inserted: the “new” architecture had to give concrete answers but also give “shape” to a new model of society. V.G. After the triumph of the Revolution, acts of terrorism began. At that time in the morning, I checked that they hadn’t placed a bomb under my car. Eisenhower was preparing the invasion. Life published an article on preparing for the invasion of the counterrevolutionary brigades. With Eisenhower dead, Kennedy activated the programme by imposing one condition: in conjunction with the invasion, the Cuban people would have to rise up. Shortly before the attempted invasion, the emigration, deemed temporary, of doctors, architects, university teachers etc. began. They were all convinced they would return to “liberated Cuba” a few weeks later. Their motto was: it is impossible for Americans to accept the triumph of the rebel army. As is well known, the Cuban people did not rise up. The revolutionary process continued and had no more obstacles. The fact that the bourgeois class and almost all the professionals had left Cuba put the country in a state of extreme weakness. The sensation was of great transformation taking place, it was evident. In that “revolutionary” push there was nothing celebratory. All available energies were invested in the culture. There were extraordinary initiatives, from the literacy campaign to the founding of international schools of medicine and of cinema. In Cuba it was decided to close schools for a year and to entrust elementary school children with the task of travelling around the country and teaching illiterate adults. In the morning they worked in the fields and in the evening they taught the peasants to read and write. In order to try to block this project, the counter-revolutionaries killed two children in an attempt to scare the population and the families of the literate children. There was a wave of popular indignation and the programme continued. L.A. Ricardo Porro was commissioned to design the Art Schools. Roberto Gottardi recalls that: «the wife of the Minister of Public Works, Selma Diaz, asked Porro to build the national art schools. The architecture had to be completely new and the schools, in Fidel’s words, the most beautiful in the world. All accomplished in six months. Take it or leave it! [...] it was days of rage and enthusiasm in which all areas of public life was run by an agile and imaginative spirit of warfare»2. You too remembered several times that: that architecture was born from a life experience, it incorporated enthusiasm for life and optimism for the future. V.G. The idea that generated them was to foster the cultural encounter between Africa, Asia and Latin America. A “place” for meeting and exchanging. A place where artists from all over the third world could interact freely. The realisation of the Schools was like receiving a “war assignment”. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara selected the Country Club as the place to build a large training centre for all of Latin America. They understood that it was important to foster the Latin American union, a theme that Simón Bolivar had previously wanted to pursue. Il Ché and Fidel, returning from the Country Club, along the road leading to the centre of Havana, met Selma Diaz, architect and wife of Osmany Cienfuegos, the Cuban Construction Minister. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara entrusted Selma Diaz with the task of designing this centre. She replied: I had just graduated, how could I deal with it? Then she adds: Riccardo Porro returned to Cuba with two Italian architects. Just think, three young architects without much experience catapulted into an assignment of this size. The choice of the place where to build the schools was a happy intuition of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara. L.A. How did the confrontation develop? V.G. We had total freedom, but we had to respond to a functional programme defined with the heads of the schools. Five directors were appointed, one for each school. We initially thought of a citadel. A proposal that did not find acceptance among the Directors, who suggest thinking of five autonomous schools. We therefore decide to place the schools on the edge of the large park and to reuse all the pre-existing buildings. We imagined schools as “stations” to cross. The aim was to promote integration with the environment in which they were “immersed”. Schools are not closed spaces. We established, for example, that there would be no doors: when “everything was ours” there could not be a public and a private space, only the living space existed. L.A. Ricardo Porro recalled: I organised our study in the chapel of the former residence of the Serrà family in Vadado. It was a wonderful place [...]. A series of young people from the school of architecture came to help us […]. Working in that atmosphere, all night and all day was a poetic experience (Loomis , 1999). V.G. We felt like Renaissance architects. We walked around the park and discussed where to locate the schools. Imagine three young people discussing with total, unthinkable freedom. We decided that each of us would deal with one or more schools, within a global vision that was born from the comparison. I chose the Ballet School. Ivan Espin had to design the music school but in the end I did it because Ivan had health problems. Porro decided to take care of the School of Plastic Arts to support his nature as a sculptor. Gottardi had problems with the actors and directors, who could not produce a shared functional programme, which with the dancers was quite simple to produce. The reasons that led us to choose the different project themes were very simple and uncomplicated, as were those for identifying the areas. I liked hidden lands, I was interested in developing a building “embedded” in the ground. Ricardo, on the other hand, chose a hill on which arrange the school of Modern Art. Each of us chose the site almost instinctively. For the Classical Dance School, the functional programme that was provided to me was very meagre: a library, a deanery, an infirmary, three ballet classrooms, theoretical classrooms and one of choreography. We went to see the dancers while they were training and dancing with Porro. The perception was immediate that we had to think of concave and convex spaces that would welcome their movements in space. For a more organic integration with the landscape and to accommodate the orography of the area, we also decided to place the buildings in a “peripheral” position with respect to the park, a choice that allowed us not to alter the nature of the park too much but also to limit the distances to be covered from schools to homes. Selma Diaz added others to the first indications: remember that we have no iron, we have little of everything, but we have many bricks. These were the indications that came to us from the Ministry of Construction. We were also asked to design some large spaces, such as gyms. Consequently, we found ourselves faced with the need to cover large spans without being able to resort to an extensive use of reinforced concrete or wood. L.A. How was the comparison between you designers? V.G. The exchange of ideas was constant, the experiences flowed naturally from one work group to another, but each operated in total autonomy. Each design group had 5-6 students in it. In my case I was lucky enough to have Josè Mosquera among my collaborators, a brilliant modest student, a true revolutionary. The offices where we worked on the project were organised in the Club, which became our “headquarters”. We worked all night and in the morning we went to the construction site. For the solution of logistical problems and the management of the building site of the Ballet School, I was entrusted with an extraordinary bricklayer, a Maestro de Obra named Bacallao. During one of the meetings that took place daily at the construction site, Bacallao told me that in Batista’s time the architects arrived in the morning at the workplace all dressed in white and, keeping away from the construction site to avoid getting dusty, they transferred orders on what to do. In this description by we marvelled at the fact that we were in the construction site together with him to face and discuss how to solve the different problems. In this construction site the carpenters did an extraordinary job, they had considerable experience. Bacallao was fantastic, he could read the drawings and he managed the construction site in an impeccable way. We faced and solved problems and needs that the yard inevitably posed on a daily basis. One morning, for example, arriving at the construction site, I realised the impact that the building would have as a result of its total mono-materiality. I was “scared” by this effect. My eye fell on an old bathtub, inside which there were pieces of 10x10 tiles, then I said to Bacallao: we will cover the wedges between the ribs of the bovedas covering the Ballet and Choreography Theatre classrooms with the tiles. The yard also lived on decisions made directly on site. Also keep in mind that the mason teams assigned to each construction site were independent. However the experience between the groups of masons engaged in the different activities circulated, flowed. There was a constant confrontation. For the workers the involvement was total, they were building for their children. A worker who told me: I’m building the school where my son will come to study. Ricardo Porro was responsible for the whole project, he was a very cultured man. In the start-up phase of the project he took us to Trinidad, the old Spanish capital. He wanted to show us the roots of Cuban architectural culture. On this journey I was struck by the solution of fan windows, by the use of verandas, all passive devices which were entrusted with the control and optimisation of the comfort of the rooms. Porro accompanied us to those places precisely because he wanted to put the value of tradition at the centre of the discussion, he immersed us in colonial culture. L.A. It is to that “mechanism” of self-generation of the project that you have referred to on several occasions? V.G. Yes, just that. When I design, I certainly draw from that stratified “grammar of memory”, to quote Luciano Semerani, which lives within me. The project generates itself, is born and then begins to live a life of its own. A writer traces the profile and character of his characters, who gradually come to life with a life of their own. In the same way the creative process in architecture is self-generated. L.A. Some problems were solved directly on site, dialoguing with the workers. V.G. He went just like that. Many decisions were made on site as construction progressed. Design and construction proceeded contextually. The dialogue with the workers was fundamental. The creative act was self-generated and lived a life of its own, we did nothing but “accompany” a process. The construction site had a speed of execution that required the same planning speed. In the evening we worked to solve problems that the construction site posed. The drawings “aged” rapidly with respect to the speed of decisions and the progress of the work. The incredible thing about this experience is that three architects with different backgrounds come to a “unitary” project. All this was possible because we used the same materials, the same construction technique, but even more so because there was a similar interpretation of the place and its possibilities. L.A. The project of the Music School also included the construction of 96 cubicles, individual study rooms, a theatre for symphonic music and one for chamber music and Italian opera. You “articulated” the 96 cubicles along a 360-metre-long path that unfolds in the landscape providing a “dynamic” view to those who cross it. A choice consistent with the vision of the School as an open place integrated with the environment. V.G. The “Gusano” is a volume that follows the orography of the terrain. It was a common sense choice. By following the level lines I avoided digging and of course I quickly realized what was needed by distributing the volumes horizontally. Disarticulation allows the changing vision of the landscape, which changes continuously according to the movement of the user. The movements do not take place along an axis, they follow a sinuous route, a connecting path between trees and nature. The cubicles lined up along the Gusano are individual study rooms above which there are the collective test rooms. On the back of the Gusano, in the highest part of the land, I placed the theatre for symphonic music, the one for chamber music, the library, the conference rooms, the choir and administration. L.A. In 1962 the construction site stopped. V.G. In 1962 Cuba fell into a serious political and economic crisis, which is what caused the slowdown and then the abandonment of the school site. Cuba was at “war” and the country’s resources were directed towards other needs. In this affair, the architect Quintana, one of the most powerful officials in Cuba, who had always expressed his opposition to the project, contributed to the decision to suspend the construction of the schools. Here is an extract from a writing by Sergio Baroni, which I consider clarifying: «The denial of the Art Schools represented the consolidation of the new Cuban technocratic regime. The designers were accused of aristocracy and individualism and the rest of the technicians who collaborated on the project were transferred to other positions by the Ministry of Construction [...]. It was a serious mistake which one realises now, when it became evident that, with the Schools, a process of renewal of Cuban architecture was interrupted, which, with difficulty, had advanced from the years preceding the revolution and which they had extraordinarily accelerated and anchored to the new social project. On the other hand, and understandably, the adoption of easy pseudo-rationalist procedures prevailed to deal with the enormous demand for projects and constructions with the minimum of resources» (Baroni 1992). L.A. You also experienced dramatic moments in Cuba. I’m referring in particular to the insane accusation of being a CIA spy and your arrest. V.G. I wasn’t the only one arrested. The first was Jean Pierre Garnier, who remained in prison for seven days on charges of espionage. This was not a crazy accusation but one of the CIA’s plans to scare foreign technicians into leaving Cuba. Six months after Garnier, it was Heberto Padilla’s turn, an intellectual, who remained in prison for 15 days. After 6 months, it was my turn. I was arrested while leaving the Ministry of Construction, inside the bag I had the plans of the port. I told Corrieri, Baroni and Wanda not to notify the Italian Embassy, everything would be cleared up. L.A. Dear Vittorio, I thank you for the willingness and generosity with which you shared your human and professional experience. I am sure that many young students will find your “story” of great interest. V.G. At the end of our dialogue, I would like to remember my teacher: Ernesto Nathan Rogers. I’ll tell you an anecdote: in 1956 I was working on the graphics for the Castello Sforzesco Museum set up by the BBPR. Leaving the museum with Rogers, in the Rocchetta courtyard the master stopped and gives me a questioning look. Looking at the Filarete tower, he told me: we have the task of designing a skyscraper in the centre. Usually skyscrapers going up they shrink. Instead this tower has a protruding crown, maybe we too could finish our skyscraper so what do you think? I replied: beautiful! Later I thought that what Rogers evoked was a distinctive feature of our city. The characters of the cities and the masters who have consolidated them are to be respected. If there is no awareness of dialectical continuity, the city loses and gets lost. It is necessary to reconstruct the figure of the architect artist who has full awareness of his role in society. The work of architecture cannot be the result of a pure stylistic and functional choice, it must be the result of a method that takes various and multiple factors into analysis. In Cuba, for example, the musical tradition, the painting of Wilfredo Lam, whose pictorial lines are recognisable in the floor plan of the Ballet School, the literature of Lezama Lima and Alejo Carpentier and above all the Cuban Revolution were fundamental. We theorised this “total” method together with Ricardo Porro, remembering the lecture by Ernesto Nathan Rogers.

As I sit here, the radio announcer announces a feature on the forthcoming Big Brother series, another chance to engage in this collective shared experience, another opportunity to revel in your very own voyeuristic impulse, what once was private is now made public. Curiously it’s almost fifteen years ago since I released the first Scanner recordings Scanner 1 [1992] and Scanner 2 [1993] featuring the intercepted cellular phone conversations of unsuspecting talkers, which I edited into minimalist musical settings as if they were instruments, bringing into focus issues of privacy and the dichotomy between the public and the private spectrum. Sometimes the high frequency of cellular noise would pervade the atmosphere, at other junctures it would erupt into words and melt down to radio hiss. Intercepted in the data stream, transmissions would blend, blurring the voices and rupturing the light, creating audio transparencies of dreamy, cool ambience. In many ways they pre-empted our reality culture as it exists today. Having the technology to peel open virtually any zone of information and consume the contents, I used the scanner device itself – a modestly sophisticated radio receiver – to explore the relationship between the public and private spheres. Working with sound in this manner suggested a means of mapping the city, in which the scanner device provided an anonymous window into reality, cutting and pasting information to structure an alternative vernacular. It was a rare opportunity to record experience and highlight the threads of desire and interior narrative that we weave into our everyday lives. The sounds of an illicit affair, a liaison with a prostitute, a drug deal or a simple discussion of “what’s for dinner” all exist within an indiscriminate ocean of signals flying overhead, but just beyond our reach. Applying the tools in this manner, I was able to twist state-of-the-art technology in unconventional ways to intercept highly personalised and voyeuristic forms of info food: sound recordings, phone scans, modem and Net intercepts, all of which became material for my multi-layered soundscapes. Every live performance, recording or mix that has followed is still in its way a “true” representation of that moment in time and in that way relates to performance art in the temporality of its data – a “Sound Polaroid” – a way of capturing the moment in sound similar to that of a Polaroid camera, which seizes an image and immediately exposes it to permanence of interception. Is there an innate desire to remain invisible and yet hear the world, scanning it for its stories and secrets? Today for our media saturated culture, this almost fetishistic desire to know all, is expressed in the publishing of private communications, of letters, faxes or telephone conversations, giving rise to all kinds of debate on the nature of privacy and the extent to which its protection can be legislated for. Images come to mind from Wim Wender’s film Wings of Desire where the lead character is a fallen angel left on earth to try and understand the madness of mortal behaviour. At various points he is able to pass through public spaces, the library, an underground train, people’s innermost thoughts and concerns become audible to him while he remains invisible to them. It is here that these Scanner CDs mirror this fantasy of the 20th century: to know everything and to have access to all secrets without being observed. This desire continues to inform our entertainment and cultural channels and looks to continue to do so for some years yet. This listening-in and scanning of the private channels has a clear relationship to surveillance, and connects to an aesthetic explored in works such as the seminal video piece, Der Riese – The Giant (1983) where the artist collaged the contents of surveillance cameras from German supermarkets, subway platforms, traffic crossings and shopping centres, using the tools of commercial voyeurism. Without a director, nor actors nor script, this is a dehumanised exploration of a contemporary history of our post-modern times. Connecting the invisible dots between Vertov’s The Man with a Movie Camera and the Rodney King TV footage, this detached work resonates and celebrates new technology’s ability to film and map everything, scanning our landscape for future reference. We watch with a constant anticipation of resolution, of catching a moment, yet the suspension finally gives way to an exquisite boredom, the true revelation of watching others. The film closes with an alien landscape, unmarked by any human presence, moving over a simulated environment, a toy-town yet still patrolled by the power of surveillance. This corporate datasphere, revealed as a kind of digital fingerprint through its storage and distribution, has moved from security and surveillance to entertainment consumption. For me, zooming in on these spaces in between – between language and understanding, between the digital fallout of ones and zeros, between the redundant and undesired flotsam and jetsam of environmental acoustic space, led to a focus towards the cityscape. Scanning technology led towards an understanding and reading of the environment and city in a fresh manner. If an accent suggested a certain class, age or attitude, then how suggestive was the raw sound around these conversations, how influential was the location where each conversation was held? Sound is ever-present, sometimes as a constantly shifting whir, as a damp grain of footsteps, as the drone-like spangle of distant traffic, as the seemingly motionless air that ripples past our ears, or as the elegant stuttering trill of a bird overhead. How influential was this common envelope of space, the environment in which we consume sound and music? How does one define the spaces between music and sound? When we listen to a Walkman, how do we distinguish between that which is intended – the sound carrier – and that which is incidental: passing traffic, the roar of a plane, the screech of a train door, your own footsteps? Whether active (creator) or passive (listener) we set up a virtual space in which we are each free to explore the sonorous and acoustic strata of what is an intimate yet global expression of space, a simple translation of the social transformations wrought by new technologies. Projects that have followed since then have expanded upon these notions. In 1998 Liverpool became this cityscape of focus, where I produced a project, Stopstarting, which explored the acoustic debris of the city, premiering at the International Symposion on Electronic Art (ISEA) conference in September of that year. For this project I chose significant points of sound located in the city, partly based on random questions in interviewing local people, partly out of self-interest. From these I mapped out a walk that took me from one point to another, minidisc in hand, recording the acoustic data in that place, mapping out the city in sound, teasing out the language that the city speaks. I wanted to create, in a sense, a sound work similar to the opening scene in Robert Altman’s movie Short Cuts (1993), in which a helicopter hovers gently over the densely packed city landscape and the film scans into moments in the daily lives of its inhabitants. It is a motion across a city, an architectural electronic scanning of an almost invisible sound wave. Liverpool, like most cities, has its very own unique sound dialect. Historically one can recall the sound of the docks, the railway station, the Cavern Club where the Beatles played their earliest live shows, their brittle tunes floating through the air of memory. As in Der Riese, voices, traffic lights, announcement speakers, buses, building work, footsteps, telephones and cash machines became the key subjects, the lead players, and were manipulated and transformed into a composition that captured this Sound Polaroid of Liverpool at this particular point in 1998. The following year Surface Noise (1999) which explored the wow and flutter of my own city, London; taking people on a red Routemaster bus journey across the city from Big Ben to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where the sheet music of “London Bridge Is Falling Down” became the score and A-Z for both musical and geographical direction following a Cageian use of indeterminacy. Where each note fell onto the map of the city between these two points not only suggested a location at which to record but also a route that the bus would later follow with the public aboard. Performances followed this routing every night for three nights, at intervals throughout the evening, each re-assembling fragments of the city in terms of sound and image, suggesting the slight shifts in tone and shape in similar places but at very different hours, so that a busy West End street at 18:00 would transform into a ghostly emptiness at 21:00. Surface Noise became a form of alternative film soundtrack, where the film was simply the view through the dusty window of a double-decker bus. Through the brief space of a bus journey the work drew upon many of our common reserves of sonic recognition, mingling the folk memory of the nursery rhyme, the background roar of traffic and the private sounds we make, secure in the knowledge that no one else is listening. Most recently I was commissioned to create a work to celebrate Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 90th birthday. 52 Space (2002) uses sounds of the city of Rome and elements of his movie The Eclipse (1962) to create a soundtrack of an image of a city suspended in time, anonymous and surreal. The resulting work is a distilled narrative of seductive conversation, musical fragments and scanned city soundscapes. Selecting a series of 52 framed images from the closing moments of the film slowed down to a kind of mnemonic slide show and accompanied by audio culled from the movie, processed with twinkling elements from the soundtrack’s original melody, the live performance conveys a complex and mysterious chronicle, offering up a space for contemplation and reflection as the soundtrack weaves an imaginary narrative. It’s almost as if you are gently floating through the city, experiencing this dream-like state. All of my works have explored the hidden resonances and meanings within memory and, in particular, the subtle traces that people and their actions leave behind. My role has often been to discover and reveal these layers of history, scanning across the mediums, so the works are part urban guide, part urban geography and part detective fiction, raising questions about public and private space. Engaging with the tools of surveillance and scanning technology has given rise to an understanding of communication that was otherwise hidden. Revelation followed from a discovery of the possibilities of these devices. Recording and redirecting these moments back into the public stream has enabled me to construct an archaeology of loss, pathos and missed connections, a momentary forgotten past in our digital future, radioactive fossils of sound, image and the imagination. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Rimbaud, Robin. "Scan and Deliver." M/C Journal 8.4 (2005). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0508/05-rimbaud.php>. APA Style Rimbaud, R. (Aug. 2005) "Scan and Deliver," M/C Journal, 8(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0508/05-rimbaud.php>.

Introduction Food has always been an essential component of daily life. Today, thinking about food is a much more complicated pursuit than planning the next meal, with food studies scholars devoting their efforts to researching “anything pertaining to food and eating, from how food is grown to when and how it is eaten, to who eats it and with whom, and the nutritional quality” (Duran and MacDonald 234). This is in addition to the work undertaken by an increasingly wide variety of popular culture researchers who explore all aspects of food (Risson and Brien 3): including food advertising, food packaging, food on television, and food in popular fiction. In creating stories, from those works that quickly disappear from bookstore shelves to those that become entrenched in the literary canon, writers use food to communicate the everyday and to explore a vast range of ideas from cultural background to social standing, and also use food to provide perspectives “into the cultural and historical uniqueness of a given social group” (Piatti-Farnell 80). For example in Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens, the central character challenges the class system when: “Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. He rose from the table, and advancing basin and spoon in hand, to the master, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity–‘Please, sir, I want some more’” (11). Scarlett O’Hara in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1936) makes a similar point, a little more dramatically, when she declares: “As God is my witness, I’m never going to be hungry again” (419). Food can also take us into the depths of another culture: places that many of us will only ever read about. Food is also used to provide insight into a character’s state of mind. In Nora Ephron’s Heartburn (1983) an item as simple as boiled bread tells a reader so much more about Rachel Samstat than her preferred bakery items: “So we got married and I got pregnant and I gave up my New York apartment and moved to Washington. Talk about mistakes [...] there I was, trying to hold up my end in a city where you can’t even buy a decent bagel” (34). There are three ways in which writers can deal with food within their work. Firstly, food can be totally ignored. This approach is sometimes taken despite food being such a standard feature of storytelling that its absence, be it a lonely meal at home, elegant canapés at an impressively catered cocktail party, or a cheap sandwich collected from a local café, is an obvious omission. Food can also add realism to a story, with many authors putting as much effort into conjuring the smell, taste, and texture of food as they do into providing a backstory and a purpose for their characters. In recent years, a third way has emerged with some writers placing such importance upon food in fiction that the line that divides the cookbook and the novel has become distorted. This article looks at cookbooks and cookery in popular fiction with a particular focus on crime novels. Recipes: Ingredients and Preparation Food in fiction has been employed, with great success, to help characters cope with grief; giving them the reassurance that only comes through the familiarity of the kitchen and the concentration required to fulfil routine tasks: to chop and dice, to mix, to sift and roll, to bake, broil, grill, steam, and fry. Such grief can come from the breakdown of a relationship as seen in Nora Ephron’s Heartburn (1983). An autobiography under the guise of fiction, this novel is the first-person story of a cookbook author, a description that irritates the narrator as she feels her works “aren’t merely cookbooks” (95). She is, however, grateful she was not described as “a distraught, rejected, pregnant cookbook author whose husband was in love with a giantess” (95). As the collapse of the marriage is described, her favourite recipes are shared: Bacon Hash; Four Minute Eggs; Toasted Almonds; Lima Beans with Pears; Linguine Alla Cecca; Pot Roast; three types of Potatoes; Sorrel Soup; desserts including Bread Pudding, Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie and Peach Pie; and a Vinaigrette, all in an effort to reassert her personal skills and thus personal value. Grief can also result from loss of hope and the realisation that a life long dreamed of will never be realised. Like Water for Chocolate (1989), by Laura Esquivel, is the magical realist tale of Tita De La Garza who, as the youngest daughter, is forbidden to marry as she must take care of her mother, a woman who: “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying or dominating […] was a pro” (87). Tita’s life lurches from one painful, unjust episode to the next; the only emotional stability she has comes from the kitchen, and from her cooking of a series of dishes: Christmas Rolls; Chabela Wedding Cake; Quail in Rose Petal Sauce; Turkey Mole; Northern-style Chorizo; Oxtail Soup; Champandongo; Chocolate and Three Kings’s Day Bread; Cream Fritters; and Beans with Chilli Tezcucana-style. This is a series of culinary-based activities that attempts to superimpose normalcy on a life that is far from the everyday. Grief is most commonly associated with death. Undertaking the selection, preparation and presentation of meals in novels dealing with bereavement is both a functional and symbolic act: life must go on for those left behind but it must go on in a very different way. Thus, novels that use food to deal with loss are particularly important because they can “make non-cooks believe they can cook, and for frequent cooks, affirm what they already know: that cooking heals” (Baltazar online). In Angelina’s Bachelors (2011) by Brian O’Reilly, Angelina D’Angelo believes “cooking was not just about food. It was about character” (2). By the end of the first chapter the young woman’s husband is dead and she is in the kitchen looking for solace, and survival, in cookery. In The Kitchen Daughter (2011) by Jael McHenry, Ginny Selvaggio is struggling to cope with the death of her parents and the friends and relations who crowd her home after the funeral. Like Angelina, Ginny retreats to the kitchen. There are, of course, exceptions. In Ntozake Shange’s Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), cooking celebrates, comforts, and seduces (Calta). This story of three sisters from South Carolina is told through diary entries, narrative, letters, poetry, songs, and spells. Recipes are also found throughout the text: Turkey; Marmalade; Rice; Spinach; Crabmeat; Fish; Sweetbread; Duck; Lamb; and, Asparagus. Anthony Capella’s The Food of Love (2004), a modern retelling of the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, is about the beautiful Laura, a waiter masquerading as a top chef Tommaso, and the talented Bruno who, “thick-set, heavy, and slightly awkward” (21), covers for Tommaso’s incompetency in the kitchen as he, too, falls for Laura. The novel contains recipes and contains considerable information about food: Take fusilli […] People say this pasta was designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. The spiral fins carry the biggest amount of sauce relative to the surface area, you see? But it only works with a thick, heavy sauce that can cling to the grooves. Conchiglie, on the other hand, is like a shell, so it holds a thin, liquid sauce inside it perfectly (17). Recipes: Dishing Up Death Crime fiction is a genre with a long history of focusing on food; from the theft of food in the novels of the nineteenth century to the utilisation of many different types of food such as chocolate, marmalade, and sweet omelettes to administer poison (Berkeley, Christie, Sayers), the latter vehicle for arsenic receiving much attention in Harriet Vane’s trial in Dorothy L. Sayers’s Strong Poison (1930). The Judge, in summing up the case, states to the members of the jury: “Four eggs were brought to the table in their shells, and Mr Urquhart broke them one by one into a bowl, adding sugar from a sifter [...he then] cooked the omelette in a chafing dish, filled it with hot jam” (14). Prior to what Timothy Taylor has described as the “pre-foodie era” the crime fiction genre was “littered with corpses whose last breaths smelled oddly sweet, or bitter, or of almonds” (online). Of course not all murders are committed in such a subtle fashion. In Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter (1953), Mary Maloney murders her policeman husband, clubbing him over the head with a frozen leg of lamb. The meat is roasting nicely when her husband’s colleagues arrive to investigate his death, the lamb is offered and consumed: the murder weapon now beyond the recovery of investigators. Recent years have also seen more and more crime fiction writers present a central protagonist working within the food industry, drawing connections between the skills required for food preparation and those needed to catch a murderer. Working with cooks or crooks, or both, requires planning and people skills in addition to creative thinking, dedication, reliability, stamina, and a willingness to take risks. Kent Carroll insists that “food and mysteries just go together” (Carroll in Calta), with crime fiction website Stop, You’re Killing Me! listing, at the time of writing, over 85 culinary-based crime fiction series, there is certainly sufficient evidence to support his claim. Of the numerous works available that focus on food there are many series that go beyond featuring food and beverages, to present recipes as well as the solving of crimes. These include: the Candy Holliday Murder Mysteries by B. B. Haywood; the Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle; the Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke; the Hemlock Falls Mysteries by Claudia Bishop; the Memphis BBQ Mysteries by Riley Adams; the Piece of Cake Mysteries by Jacklyn Brady; the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs; and, the White House Chef Mysteries by Julie Hyzy. The vast majority of offerings within this female dominated sub-genre that has been labelled “Crime and Dine” (Collins online) are American, both in origin and setting. A significant contribution to this increasingly popular formula is, however, from an Australian author Kerry Greenwood. Food features within her famed Phryne Fisher Series with recipes included in A Question of Death (2007). Recipes also form part of Greenwood’s food-themed collection of short crime stories Recipes for Crime (1995), written with Jenny Pausacker. These nine stories, each one imitating the style of one of crime fiction’s greatest contributors (from Agatha Christie to Raymond Chandler), allow readers to simultaneously access mysteries and recipes. 2004 saw the first publication of Earthly Delights and the introduction of her character, Corinna Chapman. This series follows the adventures of a woman who gave up a career as an accountant to open her own bakery in Melbourne. Corinna also investigates the occasional murder. Recipes can be found at the end of each of these books with the Corinna Chapman Recipe Book (nd), filled with instructions for baking bread, muffins and tea cakes in addition to recipes for main courses such as risotto, goulash, and “Chicken with Pineapple 1971 Style”, available from the publisher’s website. Recipes: Integration and Segregation In Heartburn (1983), Rachel acknowledges that presenting a work of fiction and a collection of recipes within a single volume can present challenges, observing: “I see that I haven’t managed to work in any recipes for a while. It’s hard to work in recipes when you’re moving the plot forward” (99). How Rachel tells her story is, however, a reflection of how she undertakes her work, with her own cookbooks being, she admits, more narration than instruction: “The cookbooks I write do well. They’re very personal and chatty–they’re cookbooks in an almost incidental way. I write chapters about friends or relatives or trips or experiences, and work in the recipes peripherally” (17). Some authors integrate detailed recipes into their narratives through description and dialogue. An excellent example of this approach can be found in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series by Cleo Coyle, in the novel On What Grounds (2003). When the central protagonist is being questioned by police, Clare Cosi’s answers are interrupted by a flashback scene and instructions on how to make Greek coffee: Three ounces of water and one very heaped teaspoon of dark roast coffee per serving. (I used half Italian roast, and half Maracaibo––a lovely Venezuelan coffee, named after the country’s major port; rich in flavour, with delicate wine overtones.) / Water and finely ground beans both go into the ibrik together. The water is then brought to a boil over medium heat (37). This provides insight into Clare’s character; that, when under pressure, she focuses her mind on what she firmly believes to be true – not the information that she is doubtful of or a situation that she is struggling to understand. Yet breaking up the action within a novel in this way–particularly within crime fiction, a genre that is predominantly dependant upon generating tension and building the pacing of the plotting to the climax–is an unusual but ultimately successful style of writing. Inquiry and instruction are comfortable bedfellows; as the central protagonists within these works discover whodunit, the readers discover who committed murder as well as a little bit more about one of the world’s most popular beverages, thus highlighting how cookbooks and novels both serve to entertain and to educate. Many authors will save their recipes, serving them up at the end of a story. This can be seen in Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef Mystery novels, the cover of each volume in the series boasts that it “includes Recipes for a Complete Presidential Menu!” These menus, with detailed ingredients lists, instructions for cooking and options for serving, are segregated from the stories and appear at the end of each work. Yet other writers will deploy a hybrid approach such as the one seen in Like Water for Chocolate (1989), where the ingredients are listed at the commencement of each chapter and the preparation for the recipes form part of the narrative. This method of integration is also deployed in The Kitchen Daughter (2011), which sees most of the chapters introduced with a recipe card, those chapters then going on to deal with action in the kitchen. Using recipes as chapter breaks is a structure that has, very recently, been adopted by Australian celebrity chef, food writer, and, now fiction author, Ed Halmagyi, in his new work, which is both cookbook and novel, The Food Clock: A Year of Cooking Seasonally (2012). As people exchange recipes in reality, so too do fictional characters. The Recipe Club (2009), by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel, is the story of two friends, Lilly Stone and Valerie Rudman, which is structured as an epistolary novel. As they exchange feelings, ideas and news in their correspondence, they also exchange recipes: over eighty of them throughout the novel in e-mails and letters. In The Food of Love (2004), written messages between two of the main characters are also used to share recipes. In addition, readers are able to post their own recipes, inspired by this book and other works by Anthony Capella, on the author’s website. From Page to Plate Some readers are contributing to the burgeoning food tourism market by seeking out the meals from the pages of their favourite novels in bars, cafés, and restaurants around the world, expanding the idea of “map as menu” (Spang 79). In Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s and Joni Rendon’s guide to literary tourism, Novel Destinations (2009), there is an entire section, “Eat Your Words: Literary Places to Sip and Sup”, dedicated to beverages and food. The listings include details for John’s Grill, in San Francisco, which still has on the menu Sam Spade’s Lamb Chops, served with baked potato and sliced tomatoes: a meal enjoyed by author Dashiell Hammett and subsequently consumed by his well-known protagonist in The Maltese Falcon (193), and the Café de la Paix, in Paris, frequented by Ian Fleming’s James Bond because “the food was good enough and it amused him to watch the people” (197). Those wanting to follow in the footsteps of writers can go to Harry’s Bar, in Venice, where the likes of Marcel Proust, Sinclair Lewis, Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway, and Truman Capote have all enjoyed a drink (195) or The Eagle and Child, in Oxford, which hosted the regular meetings of the Inklings––a group which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien––in the wood-panelled Rabbit Room (203). A number of eateries have developed their own literary themes such as the Peacocks Tearooms, in Cambridgeshire, which blends their own teas. Readers who are also tea drinkers can indulge in the Sherlock Holmes (Earl Grey with Lapsang Souchong) and the Doctor Watson (Keemun and Darjeeling with Lapsang Souchong). Alternatively, readers may prefer to side with the criminal mind and indulge in the Moriarty (Black Chai with Star Anise, Pepper, Cinnamon, and Fennel) (Peacocks). The Moat Bar and Café, in Melbourne, situated in the basement of the State Library of Victoria, caters “to the whimsy and fantasy of the fiction housed above” and even runs a book exchange program (The Moat). For those readers who are unable, or unwilling, to travel the globe in search of such savoury and sweet treats there is a wide variety of locally-based literary lunches and other meals, that bring together popular authors and wonderful food, routinely organised by book sellers, literature societies, and publishing houses. There are also many cookbooks now easily obtainable that make it possible to re-create fictional food at home. One of the many examples available is The Book Lover’s Cookbook (2003) by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen, a work containing over three hundred pages of: Breakfasts; Main & Side Dishes; Soups; Salads; Appetizers, Breads & Other Finger Foods; Desserts; and Cookies & Other Sweets based on the pages of children’s books, literary classics, popular fiction, plays, poetry, and proverbs. If crime fiction is your preferred genre then you can turn to Jean Evans’s The Crime Lover’s Cookbook (2007), which features short stories in between the pages of recipes. There is also Estérelle Payany’s Recipe for Murder (2010) a beautifully illustrated volume that presents detailed instructions for Pigs in a Blanket based on the Big Bad Wolf’s appearance in The Three Little Pigs (44–7), and Roast Beef with Truffled Mashed Potatoes, which acknowledges Patrick Bateman’s fondness for fine dining in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (124–7). Conclusion Cookbooks and many popular fiction novels are reflections of each other in terms of creativity, function, and structure. In some instances the two forms are so closely entwined that a single volume will concurrently share a narrative while providing information about, and instruction, on cookery. Indeed, cooking in books is becoming so popular that the line that traditionally separated cookbooks from other types of books, such as romance or crime novels, is becoming increasingly distorted. The separation between food and fiction is further blurred by food tourism and how people strive to experience some of the foods found within fictional works at bars, cafés, and restaurants around the world or, create such experiences in their own homes using fiction-themed recipe books. Food has always been acknowledged as essential for life; books have long been acknowledged as food for thought and food for the soul. 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