Daily Times

Recently, it has been seen that the production and writing of books have undergone a gradual decline and there has been a significant increase in the writing of research papers and articles. Book writing decline is one of the major reasons for the decline of readership in our country and hence is the decline in the collective wisdom of the society. Books have been over ages considered meta-texts and a source for establishing, making, and prospering a particular culture and community in this world. For example, Greek and Roman cultures were developed because of Plato, Aristotle, and many others. The traditions were passed on to the other parts of Europe and England inherited the greater part of these treasures after the Renaissance and the books became a valuable career for carrying the British culture and language all over the world. Similarly, many other cultures flourished because of books. For example, philosophers like, Foucault, Derrida, Camus, and Sartre wrote to be followed by almost all the world. On another level, Carl Marx and Bakhtin made their mark because of the books they wrote. After World War II, more books were written to establish literary and sociopolitical movements. For example, the books of Said, Jameson, and others are responsible for movements like postcolonial, and postmodernism. However, the similar expansion of knowledge in the world generated a global scenario where the identities of multiple parts of the world initiated a ramification of the ideas and the culture. The more the world became global, the more confusing identities started to prop up and books underwent a decline as a carrier of culture, knowledge, of a specific area. Books writing has had a decline because of dwindling readership of the books and was further aggravated because of the gradually diminishing number of quality libraries and book publishing setups.

Greek and Roman cultures were developed because of Plato, Aristotle, and many others.

One of the major reasons for this demise is the requirement of research papers for joining and promotion for the faculty in universities and other educational establishments. Here, too the quality of the research paper has suffered a decline because of monetary conditions tagged and the incapacity of effective evaluation at the level of experts engaged by the journals and magazines, especially in countries like Pakistan. The gradual decline in book writing increased because the writing of a book takes a long time, research, and a painful journey of creation and editing but the research papers are being produced with such a speed that it seems some automatic machine production is in progress. So many of the faculty who were interested in writing books turned towards research paper writing.

The digital revolution has given in our hands, tablets, big cell phones, and laptops which is hindering our access to books and books reading. Now, everyone spends more time on a cell phone than a book. The book which had been a best friend of man in his loneliness has been supplanted by the touch screen. Besides, the digital revolution has also provided many more sources of entertainment and engagement than ever. We have now social media ruling the rooster and the books are sitting quietly on the shelves of the homes and the libraries. Even in classroom activities, reading of the book was necessary in the recent past, and is now being done on the pdf books on touch screens. Moreover, the classic textbooks written by established authors are also becoming extinct and now we have books and writers where the words of wisdom and quality of creativity have been compromised.

The companionship of books must be retained in the universities, at least, in one way or the other. For example, the promotion and selection of the faculty may be attached to the writing and reading of books instead of research papers alone. An ideal balance of these two factors may work wonders. The students should also be required to go through a certain number of books before appearing in the examinations. The final and mid-term exam questions may include at least one book review by the students. For this, the study schemes may include a certain number of library hours where the use of cell phones must be banned.

The universities and sociopolitical organizations can establish clubs and societies to encourage book writing and quality books must be appreciated socially and financially also by the universities and the government. Universities can play a major role in books’ popularity and production. Firstly, the scholars at the MPhil level may be required to read at least 30 books for their comprehensive examination, and the PhD scholars at least 50 books for this purpose. The examiner must see if the concepts, theories, and critical matter have been mastered by the scholars. Universities can also initiate book-writing initiatives by subsidizing the creative authors who aspire to produce books. Similarly, all interviews and examinations for government and non-government jobs must ensure that the candidate has read a certain number of books in the relevant fields.

The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at zeadogar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @Profzee