A festschrift is a serious work: a collection of writings in honour of a deceased scholar. The writings include personal memories and experiences too. Festschrifts make for absorbing, enlightening reading. But who really knows another person fully? We all know that we have to be charitable with the deceased; they cannot defend themselves. When objectivity demands that critical, unfavourable aspects be mentioned, controversies erupt invariably.
The practice of preparing a collection of writings in memory of departed family members is now well established. These collections throw light on many past happenings and decisions and inform young people about the past. They are of course invaluable as family history.
Many families prepare these collections now-a-days for their living elderly members. The writings serve to educate younger members who often do not know the intricacies of their mother tongue because of their English medium schooling. I know of quite a few of such collections put together with the specific objective of informing the young generations.
With the advance in communication technology, putting together such a collection and beautifying it has become easy. Pretty images, designs and colours can adorn them and make them very attractive.
I have two such 'Memory Books' in front of me right now. The older one is a printed booklet of 40 pages with due credits to the printer, publisher and a Contents page, published in 1988. The other one is brand new, prepared in February 2024. It has 24 pages but no list of contents or index. It is self-published, primarily as a soft copy. Unlike the first book, it is only for private circulation.
The first major difference is that the older booklet has only one image: the photo of the deceased person on the front page. The written word took over from there. The new book has 90 photos of family members. Plus there are artistic designs and shapes in colours on very good quality paper.
Looking at the two books together, made me realize how far the language of images has progressed. There is a corresponding decline in the use of the written word. Will it soon be confined to a small, shrinking circle of old people?
The only consolation is that the old book packs a lot of information and it remains with the reader. The new book attracts instantaneously and alas! is soon forgotten. Its writing merely scratches the surface; there is no attempt to delve deeper.
That is the difference! The written word forces us to be serious and to think and reflect. The image does not and so we are not involved in it very much.
