English
Public libraries have always been welcoming places for the homeless. Just think of Paris, whose libraries are inseparable from the image of the clochards, who spend the winter in them. It is said that among the clochards from Paris you find the wisest men and women of the city. If they have attained wisdom as a result of their status in the libraries of the city or if it is something older than that, then the cause of their particular choice of lifestyle continues to be a matter of dispute.
It would be wrong however to assume that they are drunk. As the great writer and consummate drunk Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) said “The homeless who drink tend not to visit the library when they have enough money to pay their dosage of wine. However, they hardly find a better place to hang out when they have nothing to eat or drink. After all, at least in the library they can use the toilets for free, they are warm in winter and you can enjoy the silence and infinite possiblities to live other lives.
Charles Bukowski knows what he´s talking about. After all, in his youth he was one of those homeless people who drank, read and starved to be a writer. It was in Los Angeles Public Library where he spent decades. After devouring entire sections of books which usually had no meaning at all to him, one day he came across a copy of a novel called Ask the Dust, by John Fante, who definitely set his vocation against any type of adversity as a writer and his life changed forever.
It was, to use the expression with which Lorca in a letter addressed his love towards Dalí, like having a gold coin in your hand and not be able or willing to let it go. You cannot count the number of people that over the years have lived similar public libraries epiphanies. The list would be endless. People often have the choice of direct access to information and culture. However, they are mere innocent victims of the economic crisis, and it seems an entirely random phenomenon, it is precisely the public libraries, which paradoxically are a place of study, training and employment for many unemployed, considered by many governments more like a useless expense than an investment.
This is the case of the beautiful Library of Catalonia (http://www.bnc.cat/), which this year will not receive any government grant confirming that public libraries, hundreds of them have been closed this year in Europe, and are beginning to become an endangered species.
Paul Oilzum
This is a beautiful building situated the at the most important Catalan civil Gothic premise, the antique Hospital de la Santa Creu. Be sure to visit it when you rent apartments in Barcelona In few places such as its beautiful cloister you will find so much peace.
Translated by: Marc
