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Empty Books?

R

raven4022

New Member
I'm in my last year of a Graphic Design BA and the project I'm working on at the moment is about the lack of content in a book.
Just wondered if anyone had any opinions on this. Can a book- not necessarily a novel- have no content? Any thoughts on this?
Very weird I know, but any comments would be useful.
 
raven,

Can you elaborate a little on what you mean by lacking content?

I feel that all of the books I read have content worthy of the book, and it just matters whether or not that content appeals to me and captures the scenarios and characters within the book as to whether it is a good novel.

Mxx
 
It's a hard one to explain....
One of the questions I was set was "Can anything truly lack content?" We then had to choose a subject area to work in and I chose books. I wondered if a book can lack content, other than having blank pages?
Hope that helps?
I'm still trying to understand it myself.
 
I think that the only way a book could lack content is by having completely blank pages, as you said. In a book there is always a person undergoing certain experiences (ranging from the very mundane to the extraordinary) and that person reacts to those experiences. I think this alone could qualify as 'content'.

That's all, really...

Cheers, Martin :D
 
If the question is "Can anything truly lack content?", then I'd have to say, 'no'.

From a purely philosophical point of view, once something "is" what it is, then it must have content. In the case of books, even blank pages would give it content. - ie. The content of the book is blank pages. What I mean is, once you have something that you can define as a "book", it has content. Even calling it an empty book gives it content - i.e. A book of emptiness.

Now if you're talking about "ideas, storyline, characters - that sort of content" and to your mind the book is pure garbage. You might want to say it lacks content, but truly speaking, it still has content, albeit garbagey content. :)

What do you think?
 
I think that's just about what I wanted to say (and failed at, miserably). Thanks for te clarification, Ell.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Well said Ell.

If you went out to buy a writing pad you would be disappointed if you got anything but blank pages.

I think the 'empty' content may, therefore, be placed upon your expectations of what it is you expect to find or what it is you want to find.

A room, no furniture, carpets, curtains or anything can be described as an 'empty room'. You look into the room through a window and wonder why it is empty, when the rest of the house is beautifully furnished. Why is this one room the one that is not inhabited or decorated. Perhaps, you think, something happened in this room - something terrible such as the death of a loved one, or something to make it so you cannot live in it, such as termites which ate through the floor support and it's ready to give way at any moment.

Upon looking through the window and giving thought to what was there (or what wasn't) you have created the content.

As far as books go, they all have content. The book you are reading just now may contain different things for you as they do to me, but we both see something in it, whether it is the joy of having read it or the disgust at having wasted your time. Nobody can read the book and feel nothing.

Mxx
 
I really like the idea of creating the content simply by thinking it. People don't seem to like leaving things empty or blank for long, just look at all the graffiti about!
I'm trying to make things for the project that don't have any content but the idea of even a blank object having content is stumping me! Does a blank red page have content because it's red? Should it be white? hmmm......
 
I think a blank red page would definitely have content because the colour red evokes an emotional response - anger, heat, visions of roses, etc. So as soon as the viewer sees it, content has been created. Same thing would apply to white or black pages.

I suppose you might try creating just book covers with no pages - but then it wouldn't be a book!

Maybe that's the purpose of the project; to explore variations of what "no content" means in varying contexts? Some would say a trashy novel has no content, some would say blank pages has no content. It depends upon the point of view, but you could still argue that there's no such thing as a book with no content.
 
Does the title of a book define its content? Initially it would give you an idea of what the book was about, but the content could then change the meaning of the title. If that makes sense.
I read a book once called "Read". Every page was red and the type was red too, after I read it the meaning of the title was no longer the same as when I first saw it.
 
As a book lover, even the empty book evokes a response, to the feel of the paper, the weight of the book in your hands, etc.
 
I would be rather bummed out if I paid 11 quid only to find all the pages empty, though... :(

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Raven,
A couple of ideas:
For a rather different view of books and content, you might want to check out a short story by Jorge Luis Borges called "The Library of Babel". I think it contains some very interesting ideas.
Also, when I was thinking about a book totally lacking content, the picture that came into my mind was of a hollowed out book. I have a number of them (some of which look more like books than others). Even then, though, you have to suppose that any intentionally created object, of necessity, has content, if only the intention of it's creator.
Another book which comes to mind is Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy which, in some way, lacks content, or is content deficient.
In any event, this is pretty deep water.
 
How are you defining "content"? Subject matter? Then yes, all books have content. A book full of blank pages is called a journal or diary. The content has not been written yet, therefore it is not a "book".
 
I beg to differ - the dictionary classes a book as:

"A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers."

basically pages that are bound.

This does, however, make me wonder when writing is classed as a book. Could Jack Kerouac have said "I have just written a book" when 'On the road' was typed on a continuous sheet of paper?

Mxx
 
Also murphyz, does this mean that ebooks are not books either, as they exist only in electronic form??

Phil
 
Thanks for the info funes. I've read Borges before, 'The Book of Sand', but will definitely have a look at your suggestion.

One of the people in my group said she thought contentlessness was like a belief, like when people have faith in something. Not sure exactly where she was coming from but it's an interesting one to think about!
 
Any book, as yet unwritten, has content but that is not to say that it can't have content; simply imagining the book takes it halfway there.
 
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