Librarian gave life to books

EDITOR'S NOTE: This letter to the editor was originally published on Aug. 22, 2002, and was reprinted as part of the 70th anniversary of The Riverdale Press.

Editor, The Press:

Recently, The Press ran an interview with Arnold Hyman, head librarian of the Kingsbridge branch. Arnie is retiring after having fought the valiant fight for promised funding, trying to convince City Hall that the shelf life of a book is longer than a one-night ticket to a proposed multi-million-dollar sports stadium.

But there was another aspect to Arnie, as we in the bimonthly book group knew him. Arnie would take attendance, wait for the last straggler to appear, and throw out the first question on the book under discussion.

After a moment’s silence, a hand would be raised, a comment made, and we were revved up. The book could have been a masterpiece or trash, it got the same workout — from character analysis to plot to style of writing to metaphors down to the last syllable.

I sometimes think, had the author been present, would he or she wonder, “Is this what I wrote?”

Through it all, Arnie, by rule (so he said) was not permitted to enter the discussion.

His job was to conduct traffic so that everybody had a chance to speak and to try to get to the second question.

We rarely did. But Arnie is a patient man and bears no grudges. He was satisfied to sit back and let us go at it.

And we did. What a group: so articulate, so alert, so sensitive to implied meanings, so creative in appreciation of whatever literary qualities they found.

We listened to each other, and if we disagreed, we said so politely. But it was Arnie’s silent presence that gave our meetings substance, creating an environment in which we could freely roam, gathering and expressing our thoughts.

RUTH STERLING

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