Books on Tape



I have been listening to The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin in audiobook format. The novel is brilliant! It gushes insights in a thick, indiscriminate manner. This post is not about the book but the listening.

I have been writing quotes and notes and references but only transcribing from audio. I do not know the spelling of place names or characters. I can only guess at much of the punctuation from the reader's voice and intonation. Normally I feel so compelled to see a text that I will buy a second copy in printed format to accompany the audio version. This time I have resisted the urge. It is worth a try, though my Shevek and Payye, Urras, Anarras, Ayillo and Abbonai may differ from Le Guin's written spellings. 

I can see better what it must have been like to live in a world of oral knowledge transmission. It also explains the ever-shifting spelling we see in Middle and Old English writing - and I am reader steeped in printed, visual texts. I can see all of the words in my head if I wish, but even so, listening, without the permanence of print, the tones of the author's voice and the translated images make it more personal and less authoritative. Perhaps I should try and tell the story to someone else.

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