The purpose of this project is to demonstrate value of the book as art and to highlight the power of narrative. To expose the archive of self, I pull from various theorists, ranging from Walter Fisher and Umberto Eco to Albert Camus and Julietta Singh: touching on a unique set of subjects creates a balanced space to ask new questions. This project pushes boundaries to prove a point, and reframes the book less as a literary form than a shifting cultural object. THIS PAPER IS MADE OF BOOKS is about many things, but is really about books, how we communicate and what we trust to hold that communication: not only the object but the oral tradition it intermingles with, too.
I will argue that books are special and unique, and irreplaceable: the book is both symbol and object, and needs to be reintroduced as such to demonstrate its actual value. First, this project uses autoethnography as a research framework and a methodology, which allows me to look inwards and share outwards, respectively. Second, from both object and print perspective, bookmaking is another methodology and lens through which I observe the book; and last, keep your mind open to seeing books in places you wouldn’t expect.
This is a paper made of books, and therefore is a book itself. This book is broken into parts, each referring and expanding on one key idea: the book as self and as archive. This book’s research is rooted in bookmaking and its evolving process, closely followed by Jewishness and its sharing nature. This book is balanced: it contains humour, seriousness, personal anecdotes, and theories; it is a clear refusal of obsolescence. This book embraces its reader, welcomes them, and invites them to participate. This book shares a softness, a sensitive and personal approach to a thesis, in a way that invites discussion, reflection, and welcomes all to the table.