Description

pp. 259. “‘This book is a kind of penance, a confession of perfect sorrow, and by it I hope to save my soul,’ declares the protagonist–though he doesn’t really mean it. In failing health, nearly blind, the man who invented the printing press dictates his life story because he fears death will erase his name from the rolls of history. Morrison’s first novel is an inventive delight, a richly imagined portrait of a key historical figure about whom only the sketchiest details are known. His Gutenberg is complicated and real, a ruthless but shortsighted businessman who struggles to promote a heretical technology. Gutenberg’s world–the medieval cities of Mainz and Strasbourg–is surprisingly nuanced. As Gutenberg pauses to question his memory or address his scribe, Morrison playfully explores the very act of the book’s–or any book’s–creation. Another theme, the meaning imposed by the medium (i.e., handwriting vs. print), will resonate with contemporary debaters who feel the printed page is somehow more honest than an electronically rendered one.”