About
I am a bibliophile. I love books, not just to read, but also to have and to hold. To these ends, I tirelessly troll bookstores and endlessly linger in libraries. I am fascinated by language, the construct and countenance of words and the ways and means that the truly good writers manage to assemble them into timeless observations, memorable dialogue and haunting images.
I have a degree in English Literature. The claim to my university fame was that I was awarded the same literary prize won years earlier by Leonard Cohen; astonishingly, he never did send me a note of congratulations. On graduation, I married an English teacher whose specialty was the teaching of gifted children. My daughter is the director of one of the largest public libraries in the city. I call her house The Stacks, based on the 1500 books that reside there and the manner in which they do their residing. My youngest graduated with a degree in linguistics. His wife is a Shakespeare scholar, with a more than middling knowledge of Chaucer and Middle English. All considered, I believe it is reasonable to imagine that what I haven’t yet learned in terms of language and literature, I will eventually absorb by osmosis.
This blog was long in coming. At one point between then and now, I became fascinated by cities and the vibrancy and vicissitudes of city life. So I got a degree in urban planning. Further along the way – somewhere between designing northern resource towns and relocating railways, I became intrigued by business strategies and the concepts of reengineering and re-branding companies. So marketing management was added to what had become by then a rather eclectic collection of degrees and diplomas. I have spent the past three decades in marketing and, though recently retired, I still have several fingers firmly planted in the corporate pie. (Please see http://www.viewfromthecorneroffice.com.) With The Literarian, however, I am returning to my first and most constant love.
The Literarian will be about books, to be sure. It will also be about the English language and all the possibilities and perplexities it has to offer. There will be word plays and puzzles, quotes and characters and critical looks at the business of writing and publishing. Quotations are a particular fascination and obsession for me, one – at times annoyingly I’ve been told - I am most happy to share.
In addition to my own rants and raves (or is it the other way around?), the plan is to have guest contributors and, hopefully, a great deal of interactivity with readers.
I will have succeeded in my mission if The Literarian can provide all this without what Robertson Davies (in his brilliant Deptford trilogy) referred to a ‘ragbag of reach-me-down notions’. Time will tell.
In the meantime, please accept my invitation to make yourself a pot of tea, kick back and enjoy.
Murray Abramovitch
