Famed literary author, Sherman Alexie attended the BookExpo America May 28 - 31 and spoke out against Amazon's Kindle and all e-Readers because he deems them as elitist. Alexie's rant against e-Readers caused quite the commotion and prompted him to clean up his message via his Web site.
In an interview with Edward Champion, Alexie said that e-books create elitism because not everyone can afford this technology, which creates a bigger economic gap among people in different social classes.
Although Alexie said e-Readers were elitist, he said it was more than just price -- it is about literacy and social issues. Sherman (among many) wonder if e-books become the primary mode of distributing books, then what happens to booksellers? So Alexie asks Amazon if they, "have any plans to fill the social gaps left by those closed stores?"
Alexie continued on to say that e-Readers may look nice, but they are an "anonymous box" that is trying to replace the book.
In the interview, Alexie responded to those offended by his remarks:
"I am taking a very tiny stand against many large corporations ... and all sorts of people are vilifying me for it ... They're treating me like I'm Goliath. It reminds me of the way people think of professional athletes and their salaries. All sorts of middle-class folks agree with the billionaire owners of sports team that the millionaire players may too much money."
Read the full interview here.
In an interview with Edward Champion, Alexie said that e-books create elitism because not everyone can afford this technology, which creates a bigger economic gap among people in different social classes.
Although Alexie said e-Readers were elitist, he said it was more than just price -- it is about literacy and social issues. Sherman (among many) wonder if e-books become the primary mode of distributing books, then what happens to booksellers? So Alexie asks Amazon if they, "have any plans to fill the social gaps left by those closed stores?"
Alexie continued on to say that e-Readers may look nice, but they are an "anonymous box" that is trying to replace the book.
In the interview, Alexie responded to those offended by his remarks:
"I am taking a very tiny stand against many large corporations ... and all sorts of people are vilifying me for it ... They're treating me like I'm Goliath. It reminds me of the way people think of professional athletes and their salaries. All sorts of middle-class folks agree with the billionaire owners of sports team that the millionaire players may too much money."
Read the full interview here.
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another thought-provoking post; I'm not that keen on having an e-reader for my own use, and of course it is a tragedy that bookshops are likely to be even harder hit, but it strikes me that exactly the same 'elitist' argument could have been (and who knows, was?) made against the printed book all those hundreds of years ago...
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