Ex Libris: Book-Burning in a Digital World

by John Quentin

“Sacred Books, Leader? For the greater good, make it legitimate to destroy them. Threaten to burn them. Maybe even go ahead and burn a few. Then burn more if necessary. Burn them all if needs must.” It has been said books are the weapons in the war of ideas. It has been said that where books are burned, in the end people will also burn. It is said that history always judges regimes that burn books as tyrannical yet fearful. That is why no legitimately elected leader of any state before The Leader of The State ever made it a policy, a law and an obligation to burn books, some books, as a means to become more liberal, more literate and more cultured; wiser, freer; enlightened. With Grand Ordinance Number One, The Leader makes the authorship, production, distribution and ownership of all sacred books illegal. His law says they will all be surrendered; they will all be collected; they will all be burned. The Leader entrusts this inflammatory task to his loyal confidant Titus Brand—Chief Inspector Titus Brand of The Ex Libris Corps. Titus Brand is a liberal lover of literature, culture, wisdom and he is an Enlightenment Man. But Titus Brand has no love for sacred literature and all it represents. Now Titus Brand, The People and The Leader will see just how sacred these sacred books are. They will see how effective or how symbolic, how futile, how absurdist, how nihilist the new law, and the book-burning it legitimises, will prove. Why? Because theirs is a world where any number of digital alternatives to the printed word exist and where there are numerous alternatives to reading. And theirs is a world where every word written or spoken and every act committed, including book-burning, can be digitised, published, posted, scrutinised and judged. Ex Libris dares to pit modernising liberal agendas against ancient, sacred philosophy to ask, ‘is book-burning in a digital world of no consequence and no significance, or could the consequences for the world be more significant than ever before?’ Dare to discover how The Leader, Titus Brand, The People and The Ex Libris Corps answer these Big Questions when it is sacred books that are burned. Dare to read Ex Libris while you have the freedom to read.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2020