Although the visual arts of painting and sculpture have exhibitions regularly devoted to them almost nothing of the sort has been done with literature. Novels of course frequently end up as plays and films that get good public exposure and there are frequent public poetry sessions, but it mostly requires personal digging into libraries to get at much of literary culture and the connections between authors and traditions is sometimes the subject of documentaries but never openly available for the uninitiated in a public situation. A museum of literature could expose children and many of those who do not read to the adventure of exploring the diverse universes that exist in the minds of fascinating authors of poetry and other forms of literature. Photos and drawings and background materials plus audio recordings of readings could make such a museum an introduction to new worlds for open minds.
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This strikes me as a bad idea. Aren't libraries already museums of literature? Plus, the pleasure of seeing a painting or a sculpture can only be had in a museum. The pleasure of reading a good book can not be had in a museum. The museum would just put up a bunch of pictures of Dickens or Joyce or someone, which will not really encourage more reading.
Although I like the idea of getting more people into literature, with the exception of reading poetry and stories aloud to a group, reading is a very personal endeavor. And as hard as it can be to turn a fabulous novel into a satisfying play or movie can be, imagine how tough it would be to make a book an exciting visual experience? Maybe you would do better by having a Literary Hall of Fame Museum or some such thing?
Such a thing exists for Irish Literature very much in line with the types of displays you recommend. It is in Dublin about 6 blocks north of the River Liffy.
There is far more to a good piece of literature than the casual perusal of the work itself. Any worthwhile author individually has a fabric of biographical background, method, cultural context, and developmental background that reaches far beyond the experience granted by a mere tangential contact with one piece of work. In addition most works exist in relation to other pieces of comparable literature and there is network of ideas, techniques, cultures, and many other fascinating qualities that can be revealed by an intensive exposure with discrete selection, graphics, audio readings and physical objects that can tie all this material together in a way that no uninformed contact is capable of accomplishing. This type of exposure can act as a stimulant to others in the field to go more deeply into the subject and be an inspiration to others who want to participate in literature.
One of my favorite experiences in grade school was the "dramatic reading" sessions we would have. Never really formalized, it was usually our classroom teacher, who was an excellent dramatic reader, or the school vice-principal, also an excellent reader. Unfortunately, this seems to have become a forgotten artform, in this age of music CDs and video DVDs.
I think this should be done on a CD or DVD as part of a multi-media course in literature. A museum is expensive, and visiting museums is something fewer people are doing nowadays.