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I can't remember if this was a short story or from a film (or a dream), but I think it is at least 10-15 years old. The homeless (as I recall) tended to live underground and would have stacks of books near them.

I only read English. It was set in an urban environment. The homeless tended to live underground, as if in abandoned subway tunnels. It had the vibe of 'Beauty and The Beast' (the show) or maybe 'War of The Worlds' (again, the show).

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    Can you provide any more information, such as when you read (or saw it), where it was set, what language it was in?
    – Blackwood
    Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 19:37
  • Sorry, I am not sure. I think I remember seeing the reference about 10-15 years ago.
    – Jiminion
    Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 21:06
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    A little more info would help... Is reading limited exclusively to homeless people, or do you mean that sizeable bottom class that most dystopian stories have? Why can't the higher classes read -- have they forgotten, is it outlawed, or what? And as @Blackwood said, knowing what language it was in would help -- if you don't remember, then what languages would you have been able to understand it in? :-)
    – A C
    Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 23:22
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    I think I've read this story but hang me if I remember title or author. Did one of the underground dwellers (boy) teach reading to a surface dwelling girl? Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 0:11
  • I only read English. It was set in an urban environment. The homeless tended to live underground, as if in abandoned subway tunnels. It had the vibe of 'Beauty and The Beast' (the show) or maybe 'War of The Worlds' (again, the show). Maybe I saw this as a double feature with Shazaam! staring Sinbad.... [Note: That is a movie that never existed, but many claim it did.]
    – Jiminion
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 14:11

3 Answers 3

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Sounds a lot like Fahrenheit 451. Most of the movie adaptations follow suit.

Montag [the main character] leaves the river in the countryside, where he meets the exiled drifters, led by a man named Granger. They have each memorized books should the day come that society comes to an end, then rebuilds itself anew; this time, with the survivors learning to embrace the literature of the past.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451#Plot_summary

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  • Familiar with F451. Definitely wasn't that.
    – Jiminion
    Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 21:11
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Sounds like The Last Book in The Universe by Rodman Philbrick. The protagonist is a teenage boy suffering from epilepsy. I had chanced upon it in high school.

The Last Book in the Universe - Book Cover

It's the story of an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz, who begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the planet. In a world where most people are plugged into brain-drain entertainment systems, Spaz is the rare human being who can see life as it really is. When he meets an old man called Ryter, he begins to learn about Earth and its past. With Ryter as his companion, Spaz sets off an unlikely quest to save his dying sister -- and in the process, perhaps the world.

Very few people know how to read or write, and the protagonist winds up carrying the last book in his head.

He is accompanied by Ryter, an old man that he tried to steal from in the beginning of the story and one of the last few people remaining who can read and write...

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  • Can you provide some more details that suggest similarity?
    – Edlothiad
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 11:52
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    Don't really remember much, having read it around 10 years ago. It is set in a dystopian future where humans are divided into two major settlements - the Urb (the impoverished) and the Eden (genetically and technologically advanced city). Books are unheard of, but the protagonist, Spaz, meets an old man who knows literature. Also, he meets a genetically advanced girl from Eden.
    – akp
    Commented Nov 8, 2017 at 11:57
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Could it be the film Equilibrium, from 2002?

Partly inspired by Fahrenheit 451, it portrays a dystopian city in which feelings are banned, and only rebels and exiles have books of poetry. The hero is a police officer who enforces this law using "gun kata," which is kung-fu with guns.

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