A Machine to Tell Short Stories in Train Stations
New forms of reading are not just through machines, but ways of reimagining a reader’s context.
Information technology has changed the ways readers approach and take advantage of the publishing industry’s global reach. But let’s not just think of e-books readers, on-demand book printing nor even of downloading entire literary archives. Imagine, also, the places and ways in which 21st-century readers effectively read: on journeys, during their journeys, and from one point to the next.
A French company, Short Édition, has set up a vending machine for short-stories. It’s called (rather descriptively) Distributeur d’histoires courtes, and it offers just that: brief literary texts printed, on demand, onto a strip of paper no longer than a sales receipt.
Reader may choose a reading time, (1, 3 or 5 minutes), as well as a genre, from children’s literature to science fiction. A database is consulted, randomly, to choose from more than 5,000 available authors, so the reader doesn’t really know which story the machine may present.
There’s no limit on texts for readers, who may receive as many pages as they’d like with just the push of a button. What may seem like fiction worthy of Philip K. Dick or Juan Jose Arreola is already a reality for travelers at train station in France, where Distributeur d’histoires courtes are already in Grenoble, Monaco, Toulouse, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, and Paris, among other cities.
Internationally, machines of this type have only been installed in San Francisco in the United States. The initiative undoubtedly draws attention by the novelty and practicality of the format and takes it a step beyond an attempt at vending machines for books installed in Japan, for example. The very brief publications of the Distributeur d’histoires courtes are worthy heirs to the spirit of the History of Portable Literature from the novelist, Enrique Vila-Matas.
Related Articles
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
There are numerous examples in the history of self-taught artists which suggest an interrogation of that which we take for granted within the universe of art. Such was the case with figures like
Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
Fairy tales tribal stories— are more than childish tales. Such fictions, the characters of which inhabit our earliest memories, aren’t just literary works with an aesthetic and pleasant purpose. They
A cinematic poem and an ode to water: its rhythms, shapes and textures
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. - John Keats Without water the equation of life, at least life as we know it, would be impossible. A growing hypothesis holds that water, including the
Watch beauty unfold through science in this "ode to a flower" (video)
The study of the microscopic is one of the richest, most aesthetic methods of understanding the world. Lucky is the scientist who, upon seeing something beautiful, is able to see all of the tiny
To invent those we love or to see them as they are? Love in two of the movies' favorite scenes
So much has been said already, of “love” that it’s difficult to add anything, much less something new. It’s possible, though, perhaps because even if you try to pass through the sieve of all our
This app allows you to find and preserve ancient typographies
Most people, even those who are far removed from the world of design, are familiar with some type of typography and its ability to transform any text, help out dyslexics or stretch an eight page paper
The secrets of the mind-body connection
For decades medical research has recognized the existence of the placebo effect — in which the assumption that a medication will help produces actual physical improvements. In addition to this, a
The sea as infinite laboratory
Much of our thinking on the shape of the world and the universe derives from the way scientists and artists have approached these topics over time. Our fascination with the mysteries of the
Sharing and collaborating - natural movements of the creative being
We might sometimes think that artistic or creative activity is, in essence, individualistic. The Genesis of Judeo-Christian tradition portrays a God whose decision to create the world is as vehement
John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now