Toni Morrison’s library is up for auction. Theodor Adorno’s desk is on display in Frankfurt. Freud’s couch is a pilgrimage destination. Every year one can bid on a pen, lamp, typewriter, etc. of a famous dead author. Such items function as modern relics, their former owners as modern saints (even when the very authors who once owned them advocated skepticism about hero-worship).
Why Do We Value the Desks of Dead Writers?
Why Do We Value the Desks of Dead Writers?
Why Do We Value the Desks of Dead Writers?
Toni Morrison’s library is up for auction. Theodor Adorno’s desk is on display in Frankfurt. Freud’s couch is a pilgrimage destination. Every year one can bid on a pen, lamp, typewriter, etc. of a famous dead author. Such items function as modern relics, their former owners as modern saints (even when the very authors who once owned them advocated skepticism about hero-worship).