238 - Bibliographical Society of Canada (BSC)
Working with books is in many senses an effort to relate them to places. Writers in all genres describe journeys in persistent patterns of excursion and return. Readers follow them, searching for the meaning of places – while also trying to find the right place for books in their own lives and dwellings. In its creation and its criticism, literature is classified in geopolitical terms – nation, region, community, locale – and contested by further terms that cut across them spatially – indigeneity, empire, diaspora, fugitivity. The book trade also has its crucial places, from the publishing office to the bookstore. These are embattled places for the book, exposed to changes brought by politics and technology. The book itself, through its capacity to bring news and ideas from afar, has participated in technological efforts to cancel space. Thus while books powerfully give voice to or guide people to a place, it must also be acknowledged that places elude the book. At its 2024 conference, the Bibliographical Society of Canada will feature presentations that explore the conjunction of the topographical with the typographical. Together we will describe the myriad ways in which books represent places and places challenge books.