The dark library

Author: Cyril Martinez

Number of pages: 112

Dear librarians:

You can be proud of having a full reading room, but do you know who occupies it? who are they? Of what malignant strain? Then what are they doing here? Do they work? What do they work for? For whose benefit? Do they have an employer or do you see them working on their own? Were they encouraged to come or did they come on their own? Did they come for special motives? In this case, what are the motives? Is visiting the library enough to be considered a reader? How many readers are there in this hall? Should we call them readers? How do we recognize a reader when we spot one?

The question is not whether they will continue reading, but what they will read, and how. Will they read books? How many of us will survive? And what will happen to those whom readers reject?