One Meaning of Recognition

Published Saturday, December 29, 2007 by Kevin Breathnach | E-mail this post

The book of my enemy has been remaindered
And I am pleased.
In vast quantities it has been remaindered
Like a van-load of counterfeit that has been seized
And sits in piles in a police warehouse,
My enemy's much-prized effort sits in piles
In the kind of bookshop where remaindering occurs.
Great, square stacks of rejected books and, between them, aisles
One passes down reflecting on life's vanities,
Pausing to remember all those thoughtful reviews
Lavished to no avail upon one's enemy's book --
For behold, here is that book
Among these ranks and banks of duds,
These ponderous and seeminly irreducible cairns
Of complete stiffs.

Months ago, Clive James launched an attack on the reputation of (amongst others) one Jean-Paul Sartre. Only weeks ago, though, the (Irish) ghost of that Sartre might well have been pleased. Not only had Cultural Amnesia been remaindered, it had been remaindered in great abundance and with considerable vigour to boot - a 66% price reduction. Something changed. For it now sits proudly (back at full price) in even greater abundance at the very top of the chart (in Hodges & Figgis, at least). It was sold-out, moreover, in every Dublin bookshop a week before Christmas. Something changed, indeed.

Pat Rabbitte recommended the book on radio, is what changed. And just this once, the public listened to Rabbitte, who has clearly found himself with more free time since his departure from the top at Labour. Nothing changed, at all. Hell is still other people.

Labels: books, clive james, pat rabbitte, sartre

One Meaning of Recognition

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