Acceso usuarios
Maria Antonia Peña Guerrero
Se atribuye a Sir Francis Bacon la célebre frase que dice: “Algunos libros son probados, otros devorados, poquísimos masticados y digeridos”. Pónganla en su buscador de webs y verán que les remite, al menos, a una decena de miles de páginas. La frase es tan rotunda, tan visual y tan potente que la han usado como eslogan o reclamo para ferias del libro, librerías, editoriales y comercializadoras de todo tipo. Son innumerables las veces que ha rodado por las redes sociales, engrosando esa interminable colección de dichos y citas evocadoras que buscan mover y conmover. Ni siquiera hay seguridad plena de que, realmente, Bacon la pronunciara en algún momento y no parece, desde luego, que la dejara por escrito. Sin embargo, he de admitir que a mí me gusta y seguramente sea porque establece una conexión bastante directa con el hecho de comer y, a su vez, con la sensación de hambre y, al mismo tiempo, con las distintas formas que tenemos de saciarla. Me reconozco en ella, en definitiva, porque también yo, a lo largo de mi vida lectora, he probado libros, los he devorado compulsivamente o los he saboreado y disfrutado como si fueran el último manjar que me fuera dado ingerir.
Sir Francis Bacon is credited with the famous phrase: "Some books are tried, others eaten, very few chewed and digested." Put it in your web browser and you will see that it refers you to at least ten thousand pages. The phrase is so resounding, so visual and so powerful that it has been used as a slogan or claim for book fairs, bookstores, publishers and marketers of all kinds. There are countless times that it has rolled through social networks, adding to that endless collection of evocative sayings and quotes that seek to move and have someone be moved. There is not even complete assurance that Bacon actually pronounced the phrase at some point, and it certainly does not seem that he left it in writing. However, I have to admit that I like it, probably because it establishes a fairly direct connection with the act of eating and, in turn, with the feeling of hunger and, at the same time, with the different ways we have to satiate it. I recognize myself in it, in short, because I too, throughout my reading life, have tried books, I have compulsively devoured them or I have savored and enjoyed them as if they were the last delicacy that I had to eat.
