The Practice and Representation of Reading in England

Description

Developments in cultural history and literary criticism have suggested alternative ways of addressing the interpretation of reading. How did people read in the past? Where and why did they read? How were the manner and purpose of reading envisaged and recorded by contemporaries - and why? Drawing on fields as diverse as medieval pedagogy, textual bibliography, the history of science, and social and literary history, this collection of fourteen essays highlights both the singularity of personal reading experiences and the cultural conventions involved in reading and its perception. An introductory essay offers an important critical assessment of the various contributions to the development of the subject in recent times. This book constitutes a major addition to our understanding of the history of readers and reading.

'The most striking feature of The Practice and Representation of Reading in England is the diversity of academic traditions and theoretical frameworks which are brought to bear on the subject. They range from post-modern textual criticism to the history of science, informed by a diversity of approaches from medieval palaegraphy to feminism. Individually, the papers are of great interest and distinction.' SHARP News