… what is remarkable beyond the store’s [shakespeare & co.’s] unique literary genealogy is that, at a time when digital publishing is undoing and repackaging so much of literary culture, its nature as a store is generalizable to small bookstores everywhere. it is intimate and surprising, serious and fun. it is a curated space which is a source for curating one’s sense of the world and of self.
indeed, if the idea of curating is one of the most significant cultural forms of the 21st century (and i believe it is, given the volume of cultural material available to us at this moment in history), the small, well-curated bookstore will not simply thrive as a commercial enterprise, it will be culturally indispensable.
— from a short trevor butterworth piece, entitled as the age of the physical book retreats, the cult of the physical book advances, in forbes. the piece seems a bit confuddled to me (what, exactly, is the single main sentiment being conveyed about george whitman of shakespeare & co. in paris?) but this quote stood out. digital information overload is all too common a complaint these days, and the neatest solution is to let the individual pick and choose (whether by facebook timeline, tumblr, twitter subscriptions, rss feeds), and let the rest swim by unattended. but the small bookshop is — as the article acknowledges — ultimately a commercial enterprise, and therefore one that, no matter how “culturally” important, cannot survive without a good dollop of business acumen that has little to do with the quixotic ideal of eclectic/esoteric selection. s&co in particular is an exception, for it survives — again, the article acknowledges this — on the basis of its glorious past and “litty” reputation, making it exceptional among the throngs of small shops everywhere that are downing their shutters for lack of custom. whither, then, curating? for whom?
