A Modern Industry

In the last hundred years, literature has gone through a period of enormous change. For example…

• The business which produces it – publishing – is now a huge global industry which uses the latest technology and marketing techniques to make and sell books.

• Top authors are paid vast advances for their latest manuscripts (or, increasingly, computer discs).

• Many stories which began as written fiction now reach an even wider audience through film and TV adaptation.

• Media coverage of authors, literary events and major international prizes such as the Nobel, Goncourt and Booker, help to promote fiction.

• Whereas in the past most famous writers were white and came either from Europe or America, there is now a much broader diversity of styles and voice in literature. So – there it is… a short guide to the development of literature.

(From “Dossier”)

19. Answer the following questions:

1. When is story-telling supposed to begin? 2. Which nation made its contribution to keep written records of the stories? 3. Which layers of society were exposed to reading in ancient times in Europe? Why? 4. What is the importance of Guttenberg’s discovery? 5. What was the novel of the nineteenth century characterized by? 6. Speak on the problems of modern literature and publishing industry.

20. a) Who are these people in book industry? Choose from the following list: an editor, a novelist, a poet, a printer, a translator, a textbook writer, a biographer, a literary agent, a playwright, a publisher.

• writes poetry

• writes books about people’s life

• writes plays

• writes books for school

• writes novels

• checks the text of the book

• helps authors find someone to publish their books

• makes a lot of copies of the book

• changes the language of a book (e.g. from English to Spanish)

• choses the best books to publish

b) Would you like to be one of them? Why / why not? Speak on who can be a writer?

21. Translate the following article into English. Check yourself on these terms. З чого складається книжка?

Обкладинка і палітурка (тверда обкладинка) – зовнішнє захисне покриття книги, призначене для її збереження від зовнішнього впливу.

Корінець – скріплює всі елементи книги, забезпечує вільне обертання сторінок книги, її міцність і орієнтування у книгах.

Суперобкладинка – додаткова обкладинка, яка одягається на палітурку чи на основну обкладинку.

Форзац – подвійний аркуш паперу, що з'єднує книжку із внутрішньою частиною обкладинки, а також служить для оформлення книжки. З німецької мови це слово значить: "фор" – перед, "зац" – набір, тобто те, що йде перед друкованим текстом книги. У кожному переплетеному виданні по два форзаці: передній і задній. Форзаці використовуються з інформативними цілями, вони часто несуть на собі рекламні зображення, довідкові дані, карти, схеми.

Титульний аркуш – заголовний аркуш книги, на якому містяться основні відомості для загального розпізнання її змісту.

На титульному аркуші розміщуються такі відомості:

• хто написав книгу,

• з якої мови переклав,

• як вона називається і що собою представляє,

• де, у якому році, яке видавництво випустило книгу у світ, хто її оформляв.

Зміст і алфавітний покажчик створюють читачу зручність орієнтування всередині тексту книги.

Анотація – коротка замітка, яка передає зміст книги, знайомить з головними питаннями або основними епізодами і дає їм оцінку. Анотація повинна зацікавити читача, викликати бажання прочитати цю книгу.

Ось, наприклад, яку анотацію подано до книги О.Іваненко “Казки”:

Цікаво, про гомонять між собою дерева, шепочуться квіти, щебечуть пташки, гудуть джмелі? А від кого тікає зайчик у білій шубці і де зимував неслухняний братик - ведмедик? Про це та ще багато інших цікавих та повчальних пригод мешканців лісу розповідає ця книжка. Написала її Оксана Іваненко (1906 – 1997) – відома українська письменниця.

22. Alexander Herzen called public libraries "a feast of ideas to which all are invited”. Read the text below and say how the modem libraries differ from those of the old days. Use the topical vocabulary.

My Favourite Library

There are many libraries which I use regularly in London, some to borrow books from, some as quiet places to work in, but the Westminster Central Reference Library is unique, in a small street just off Leicester Square, it is run by the London borough of Westminster. You don't need a ticket to get in, and it is available to foreign visitors just the same as to local resi­dents. You simply walk in, and there, on three floors, you can consult about 138,000 reference books and they include some very remarkable and useful items.

As you come in, the first alcove on the right contains tele­phone directories of almost every country in the world – Ar­gentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, and so on, besides direc­tories of important addresses in each country. There is also a street directory of every British town of any size, with the streets in alphabetical order, and the residents' names, as a rule, against their number in the street, while in another section the residents themselves are listed in alphabetical order.

Next there are technical dictionaries in all the principal languages. I counted 60 specialised technical dictionaries for Russian alone. Then there is a section which, besides the best world atlases, contains individual atlases of a great many countries, some of them almost too heavy to lift. Seven hundred periodicals, mostly technical, are taken by the library, and the latest issues are put out on racks nearby. By asking at the enquiry desk you can see maps of the whole of Britain on the scale of 1/60,000 and 1/24,000, and smaller-scale maps of nearly every other country in Europe.

Around the walls, on this floor and the floor above, are reference books on every possible subject, including, for instance, standard works of English literature and criticism. Foreign literature, however, is represented mainly by antho­logies.

Finally, on the top floor of all, is a wonderful art library, where you can take down from the shelves all those expensive, heavy, illustrated editions that you could never really afford yourself. The librarian at the desk can direct you to answers for almost any query you may have about the plastic alts. There is in fact a busy enquiry desk on each floor, and the last time I was there they had just received a letter from a distinguished medical man. He had written to ask for information about sword-swallowing. He was very interested in the anatomy of sword-swallowers, and had failed to find anything either in medical libraries or in the British Museum Library! (Anglia, 1972)