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Dear Max---
I think that Arlisia does not necessarily need to be a plural,
and I do think it can be populated by Arlisians. After all: Africa, a
continent, is populated by Africans, but I have to admit that my term “Arlisians”
was inspired by an association with Elysium, Orpheus and Euridice etc. as the
result of a vague longing for serenity (caused by a year that was unusually eventful
in so many ways, I suppose).
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica online:
Elysium, “also
called Elysian Fields or
Elysian Plain in Greek mythology” was “originally
the paradise to which heroes on whom the gods conferred immortality were sent.
It probably was retained from Minoan religion. In Homer's writings the Elysian
Plain was a land of perfect happiness at the end of the earth, on the banks of
the
Not bad, those associations
with a paradise populated with heroes, perfect happiness, those specially favored
by the gods, immortality, a righteous life!
Still perplexed,
Librarian
Watanabe Family
Library
Eiteljorg
317-275-1346
visit our web
site at www.eiteljorg.org
From: ART LIBRARIES
SOCIETY DISCUSSION LIST [mailto:
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009
3:54 PM
To:
Subject: [ARLIS-L] Doubts about
Arlisia?
Dear fellow-Arlisians,
I have just dutifully joined the Facebook
"Arlisians" group, but I have to ask: Are any Arlisians out
there at all concerned that "Arlisia" is actually a real word with
quite distinctive - and perhaps not entirely desirable –connotations for
us and for our profession?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (11th
edition, article on “Palaeobotany), "Arlisia" are
"curious, transversely-ribbed [floral] fossils." Now,
colleague, I ask you: Do you see many curious, transversely-ribbed fossils at
ARLIS/NA meetings? Or for that matter in your art library (on your side
of the reference desk, that is; bolder souls may jump in to defend our patrons
from slander)?
Now I wouldn’t want to deny that with a bit of effort
we could try to find our likeness in the dictionary definition of
“Arlisia.” While the EB writer surely used
“curious” in the pejorative sense (i.e., odd), we tend, like all
members of the genus homo bibliothecarius, to be curious in the good sense; and
thus even those of us who don’t regard ourselves as odd might qualify as
“curious.” And while I don’t think a librarian
anatomist would classify us as “transversely-ribbed” in the
technical sense – that technical term is mostly applied to plants, plumbing
pipes, and – let us be candid – various exotica for sale in, for
example, the West Village – we do of course have ribs more or less
perpendicularly-disposed vis-ŕ-vis our spines. Similarly, no one would
deny that some of us are more “floral” than others, nor that some
few of us are, in our later years for the most part, described –
uncharitably if not necessarily altogether inaccurately – as
“fossils.” But do we really want to work this hard to deserve
being described as "curious, transversely-ribbed [floral]
fossils”?
Now it’s also worth reflecting that the word
“Arlisia” is actually plural – and thus if we insist upon
being associated with the word, we should really call ourselves, as a group,
“Arlisia” not Arlisians, should reserve “Arlisian” for
adjectival uses, and should find another name (Arlisium?) for the realm we plan
to inhabit. And perhaps Arlisium should be consigned to Second Life where
few palaeobotanists will discover it and add to the already rich thesaurus of
stereotypes about librarians. We might even be able to market bottled
water “fresh from Arlisian wells” and build an endowment for
ARLIS/NA.
Respectfully submitted by