{"id":3286,"date":"2022-01-26T14:51:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T19:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2022-01-26T14:53:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T19:53:16","slug":"leaving-a-literary-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/2022\/01\/26\/leaving-a-literary-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving a literary legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"MinnPost\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Monte Bute<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Angel of Death has been my constant, menacing companion for 12 years. Now his rancid breath grows closer. In the back of my mind, I have always been collecting and curating books for the Metropolitan State University\u2019s Library and Learning Center where I taught for nearly four decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monte
Monte Bute shown with part of his vast book collection.Courtesy of Monte Bute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jan. 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been a lifelong \u201cbiblioholic;\u201d I began collecting boys\u2019 sports books by age 7. Even if I lived to the biblical Methuselah\u2019s 969 years, I could never read all the thousands of books scattered throughout my home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my adult life, it has been a rare week when I did not visit at least one new and a couple of used bookstores. As author Tom Raabe put it, I have \u201cthe habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire and consume books in excess.\u201d I have always been steadfast in resisting treatment for my unquenchable passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my younger days, whenever I traveled to an academic conference, I took along an empty suitcase. I always had a shifting list in my mind of 700 to 800 books that I sought. I devoted at least one day perusing the cities\u2019 best used bookstores. The internet ruined that pleasure. Now I can order any book I desire from anywhere in the world with a click of the mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twelve years ago, on my 65th birthday, I was diagnosed with a rare terminal cancer, carrying a medium survival rate of 14 months. I am long past my expiration date. That brush with mortality awakened me to the reality that neither I, nor my library, were immortal. It was time to begin gifting my books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-COVID, I held an annual book-gifting event. I invited a few hundred former students and friends to my home for two days of book scavenging. Each year, they took home between 600 and 800 books. Once a hungry, young mind found more than 100 volumes, another time someone gathered 75 worthy gifts. COVID willing, next spring I will resume my weekend event, offering at least 1,000 gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health issues have again plagued me during the past six months. I had heart surgery last summer, with three new stents inserted and two old ones unclogged. A couple of weeks later, I had a major epileptic seizure resulting in a 90-day hold on my driving privileges. The risk of a stroke is nearly three times higher in older patients who have a late-onset of epilepsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Angel of Death has been my constant, menacing companion for 12 years. Now his rancid breath grows closer. In the back of my mind, I have always been collecting and curating books for the Metropolitan State University\u2019s Library and Learning Center where I taught for nearly four decades. I retired last spring at age 76 as a professor emeritus. Originally a college without walls, they only built a library in 2004. For a university, it has a bare-bones collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some university-library faculty colleagues are regularly coming to my home to cull roughly 2,500 rare and hard-to-find hardcover editions of classic works. I can think of no finer way to celebrate and honor my beloved Metro State\u2019s 50th anniversary. With each volume bearing my donor\u2019s stamp, I and my library will fittingly live on in a public sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monte Bute has been a bookish activist, writer and gadfly in Minnesota for 55 years.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Monte Bute The Angel of Death has been my constant, menacing companion for 12 years. Now his rancid breath grows closer. In the back of my mind, I have always been collecting and curating books for the Metropolitan State University\u2019s Library and Learning Center where I taught for nearly four decades. Jan. 20, 2022 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3288,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3286\/revisions\/3288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}