3 ms·
The binding of the book is part of it's value. It's an almost 150-old piece of skin. Everyone who interacted with that poor woman is long since dead. Everyone
by mablopoule 3y ago
The binding of the book is part of it's value.
It's an almost 150-old piece of skin. Everyone who interacted with that poor woman is long since dead. Everyone who interacted with someone who interacted with that woman is either dead or in mid-to-late 70s, that's how far this is. I would be surprised if there was a 'family' who waited for this moment, and who would ask anything else than just to cremate the piece of skin.
I'm parisian, and part of my family is in the region for a long time, and yet it's not like I'm mourning every day because potentially some ancestor's tibia is being used as decoration in the catacombe.
- ethbr1 3y agoIt's balancing the value (of a human skin book cover) about substitution (a book cover of any other material). It's not that human skin is being used for a purpose: it's that the purpose is trivial and provides no benefit above substitution. The analogy would be if your great-great-grandfather's tibia were being used to hold a door open.
- mablopoule 3y agoWell at least I would brag that I have a great-great-grandfather at Harvard :D. Joke aside, I see your point.
- ethbr1 3y agoThe one detail I was unable to find was "What is the book about?" Ironically, I think I'd be okay with my skin adorning an anatomy textbook!
- mablopoule 3y agoOh, I haven't realized that the name of the book wasn't in English! It's "Des destinées de l’âme", which translates to "Of the fates of soul". From what I've gathered it's a writer/poet/actor striken by grief who ponders about what happens after death, and about the notion of a soul, both historically (he seems to be speaking a bit about hinduism and greco-roman conceptions of a soul), philosophically, and theologically. While this still doesn't justify the initial act of using someone skins, knowing the title in french makes it clear that there is a posthumous thematic, I haven't realized that it may not be obvious to non-french speakers.
- ethbr1 3y agoYeah, the title was easy enough to translate and mentioned in most English news, but I was disappointed that none of the articles (or anywhere else I could find on the internet) summarized the book's content. That's definitely a bit more debatable, for thematic purposes as you said, but I think I (personally) would want some utility in the book (instead of a more artistic or philosophical work) to justify a skin cover.