A Culture of Thinkers

Homer, Gabriel Garcia Marques, Pierre Bordieu, Simon de Bouvier, Leo Trotsky. The authors of the featured books flash by like billboards on a freeway. In the gut of the bookstore, psychology clasics and philosophy reign the shelves, followed by a large section set aside for Argentine history. The Porteno bookstore doesn't have a New York Times bestsellers or a "hot reads" table like American bookstores to shine a spotlight on the newest, most popular books that capture fleeting zietgiests and opinions of critics and polls. Bookstores in Buenos Aires feature classics, books with lasting reputations by authors of high esteem.

The psychology section here doesn't celebrate self help titles and quick fix mood swing books. Herman Hesse, Freud and Skinner lie cover up, facing eachother, like a round table discussion of some of the most renowned thinkers in modern psychology.

In outdoor used book stalls, similar patterns govern, with more distinguished scholars and famous titles catch my attention from worn book covers like a closet of dense wool sweaters; they may have holes or a couple torn pages, but the quality is both lasting and charming.


The intriguing thing about the bookstores here is not just that they have different books, but what this difference means. I think they're are many ways to learn about and try to understand a culture, and one of my new anthropological methods is to peruse a people's bookstores. People generally read about things that mean a lot to them. If you're going to spend your free time reading a book, the topic of the book is obviously interesting to you. So bookstores tell you what people care and think about. They have a sampling of the important issues, favorite musings and topics, and generally just the things people find interesting. Now obviously, not everybody frequents bookstores, and not everyone reads books (so no this sampling method cannot be used in anywhere other than conversation or travel blogs) but nonetheless, here's what I've learned about Buenos Aires form bookstores.


First off, the sheer number of them is a shock, it seems every block I pass a bookstore or two. Most relatively are small (the only one remotely similar to Barnes and Noble is the Ateneo) and have both new and used books. In addition, the books are pretty cheap, about 5 USD for used books. Which leads me to wonder how they are possibly making profits as books are dirt cheap and bookstores are endemic. Well it turns out bookstores are everywhere because readers are everywhere. On the subte (subway), at outside tables of cafes, on benches at the park; everyone's reading.


The second interesting thing is what I discussed above, about the value of classics and dense theoretical books. It seems to me that the Portenos value history and intellect much more than us Americans. Every young adult I've talked to here knows about and is excited to talk about Argentine history, and the large history sections confirm this. As I mentioned before, classic literature dominates the fiction section, verifying that the Argentines are intellectuals. They don't want the "next best thing" throw-away paperback best seller. They want the tried and true works of art, the books you remember and can read twice and still not fully understand. In our American culture where, the next best thing is obviously better, the best seller tables always have fresh flashy batch of bestsellers, jsut waiting for our quick consumption, a routine book club discussion, and a quick disposal to a trash can, used bookstore or mother in law nearby. Here, books have longer lives, as all the bookstores have a used section which is often larger than the new. They are treated more like works of art, that deserve mulling over in cafes and discussing for years and years. Now that I write this, I'm actually feeling a bit sorry for American books, with their fleeting popularity, like the cool girls in middle school; you always knew their lack of substance and bad quality would get them in the end.


In addition, the bookstores are chock full dense social theory, the stuff that makes whole anthropology lecture hall groan. Books like Pierre Bourdieu's 'Outline of a Theory of Practice' which considers human symbols and relations through abstract language and really long words. This book is not just in bookstores (you have to order this online in the states, i know) but it's featured in windows.


Anyways, I could go on forever, but I think hte point has been made. The Portenos are intellectual and really value reading in general, literature, books about the meanings of life and theories on human actions and they still think the thoughts of people who aren't living are worth reading (we would prefer to forget about most these people, I mean duh, they're dead they can't be too smart!...plus Twilight 4 got 3 stars in People, has a shiny cover, and has vampires going to third base!)



Photos.....






The Ateneo is a bookstore in an old theater built in 1920. It seats over 1,000 and has seen many famous tango artists including Carlos Gardel and others. It then became a movie theater in the late '20's and following the obvious succession of events, was converted into a bookstore in 2000 (chiste..?). It still features a hand painted ceiling and sculptures on the walls.






A book stall at the "feria de librerias" outside my apartment. There's about 30 stalls like this where people have collections of used books. The same guys (yes, almost all older men) sell books from the same stalls and from what I gather, most have been here for years. At night they lock up the books with iron gates and start anew in the morning ... if they feel up to it. Any given day some are open and some are closed, depending on weather, day of the week and mod of the vender. Seems like a pretty nice gig.