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Theories of Reading: Books, Bodies, and Bibliomania
Why do literary theorists see reading as an act of dispassionate textual analysis and meaning production, when historical evidence shows that readers have often read excessively, obsessively, and for sensory stimulation? Posing these and other questions, this is the first major work to bring insights from book history to bear on literary history and theory. In so doing, the book charts a compelling and innovative history of theories of reading. While literary theorists have greatly contributed to our understanding of the text-reader relation, they have rarely taken into account that the relation between a book and a reader is also a relation between two one made of paper and ink, the other flesh and blood. This is why, Karin Littau argues, we need to look beyond the words on the page, and pay attention to the technical innovations in the physical format of the book. Only then is it possible to understand more fully how media technology has changed our experience of reading, and why media history presents a challenge to our conceptions of what reading is. Each chapter places the reader in specific disciplinary and historical literature, criticism, philosophy, cultural history, bibliography, film, new media. Overall, the history recounted in this book points to a split between modern literary study which regards reading as a reducibly mental activity, and a tradition reaching back to antiquity which assumed that reading was not only about sense-making but also about sensation. Theories of Books, Bodies and Bibliomania will be essential reading for all students and scholars of literary theory and history as well as of great interest to students of the history of the book and new media.
- GenresNonfiction
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2006
6 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 17, 2009
While I was simultaneously worried the territory of this book was dangerously close to my dissertation, I had also hoped this would be more provocative than it was. Littau provides a self-described "sweeping meta-narrative" of the history of reading (specifically focusing on his history of literary criticism in re: reading), and does a great job culling sources from a variety of schools and academic persuasions. The survey the book offers in this regard makes it well-worth reading from the start. However, she doesn't do much beyond point out the limitations of such criticisms. So while it is interesting to see how our understanding of reading has shifted to an understanding of how readers make sense of texts (rather than feel sensations while reading them), Littau stops short of suggesting how a contemporary critic might go about incorporating the latter into his/her criticism. Instead, she comes dangerously close to being an all-out advocate for technological determinism, when it seems like she could reach the same critical conclusions without fully embracing McLuhan or discarding Williams. On the upside, she's certainly an advocate for paying more attention to what she calls the "matter" of the text (her insistence on this term is largely due its etymological connection with matriarchy), but doesn't actually do much of this herself. In this sense, the book felt rightly critical but in no way prescriptive. Here's hoping my own dissertation can do both.
March 20, 2020
Theories of Reading: Books, Bodies, and Bibliomania focuses upon ‘current critical understanding of reading and readership studies’. In the book, Karin Littau has aimed to ‘bring insights from book history to bear on literary history and theory’. She is a firm believer that ‘the relation between a book and a reader is also a relation between two bodies: one made of paper and ink, the other of flesh and blood’.
In Theories of Reading, Littau charts how media and technology have altered the experience of reading. She believes that the book is a medium which deserves to be celebrated as it is ‘the longest serving medium for the storage, retrieval and transmission of knowledge’.
The book is split into many manageable sections which cover a wide variety of book and reading-related topics, spanning such subjects as reading aloud, the progression of printing, ‘reading addiction’, ‘film-fever’, bibliomania, the ‘dangers’ of reading, contemplation of a future without books and the sexual politics of novels. Throughout, Littau charts the progress of the book from its beginnings ‘scratched into stone, clay or wax’, to the newer technological innovations such as e-readers and the Internet, which have changed the way in which we read.
A vast array of sources have been used in order to give an informed overview of the book and how it has been used and received historically. Littau has used sources as diverse as those focusing upon Romantic theory, the use of bibliographies in the modern world, the function of criticism and different races and sexes as ‘cultural readers’. Several illustrations have been included throughout the volume, all of which relate to the preceding text. The headings used successfully break up the text, making it easy to find specific subsections.
Theories of Reading is an incredibly interesting and informative book, far-reaching in its scope. A vast array of points have been included, considered in a manner which works well. Each statement which Littau has made throughout the book is backed up by historical fact and the opinions of other writers and specialists who can further enforce her argument. Theories of Reading is a wonderful reference book for students and those interested in reading and ‘bibliomania’.
In Theories of Reading, Littau charts how media and technology have altered the experience of reading. She believes that the book is a medium which deserves to be celebrated as it is ‘the longest serving medium for the storage, retrieval and transmission of knowledge’.
The book is split into many manageable sections which cover a wide variety of book and reading-related topics, spanning such subjects as reading aloud, the progression of printing, ‘reading addiction’, ‘film-fever’, bibliomania, the ‘dangers’ of reading, contemplation of a future without books and the sexual politics of novels. Throughout, Littau charts the progress of the book from its beginnings ‘scratched into stone, clay or wax’, to the newer technological innovations such as e-readers and the Internet, which have changed the way in which we read.
A vast array of sources have been used in order to give an informed overview of the book and how it has been used and received historically. Littau has used sources as diverse as those focusing upon Romantic theory, the use of bibliographies in the modern world, the function of criticism and different races and sexes as ‘cultural readers’. Several illustrations have been included throughout the volume, all of which relate to the preceding text. The headings used successfully break up the text, making it easy to find specific subsections.
Theories of Reading is an incredibly interesting and informative book, far-reaching in its scope. A vast array of points have been included, considered in a manner which works well. Each statement which Littau has made throughout the book is backed up by historical fact and the opinions of other writers and specialists who can further enforce her argument. Theories of Reading is a wonderful reference book for students and those interested in reading and ‘bibliomania’.
October 17, 2018
Karin Littau llama la atención sobre el componente afectivo, emocional e inmediato de la lectura, explica cómo éste desapareció del interés crítico durante el romanticismo (cuando los estudios empezaron a prestar más atención al autor que a los lectores, cf. 90-91) y reivindica su recuperación para el discurso teórico, ya que incluso los clásicos fundadores de la teoría de la recepción concibieron la construcción de sentido como una actividad exclusivamente conceptual. Sólo por ello, este libro debería ser un lugar de paso obligado para cualquiera que se interese por la lectura y por su historia.
Además, la autora insiste con vehemencia en la influencia de la tecnología sobre nuestra forma de leer. A escala individual —me digo—, este determinismo tecnológico puede parecer falso; a escala social, desde la atalaya de la estadística y de la historia cultural, resulta evidente, aunque no por ello estaba menos necesitado de demostración. Los indicios que ella presenta resultan muy convincentes.
Habida cuenta la complejidad de los elementos que maneja, el libro posee una coherencia impresionante. La línea argumentativa es muy vigorosa. Lo que ya me cuadra menos son las especulaciones sobre el modo en que la realidad virtual o la lectura de textos digitales afectará a nuestra percepción. Tampoco puedo asumir la propuesta de invertir sin más la «jerarquía de la razón» (147): el hecho de que la racionalidad fuera tradicionalmente un valor masculino no hace de ella algo menos valioso para la ciencia y para la vida sociedad. Por último, echo de menos indicaciones concretas sobre cómo integrar estas valiosas reflexiones al análisis literario o al estudio de la recepción empírica.
Además, la autora insiste con vehemencia en la influencia de la tecnología sobre nuestra forma de leer. A escala individual —me digo—, este determinismo tecnológico puede parecer falso; a escala social, desde la atalaya de la estadística y de la historia cultural, resulta evidente, aunque no por ello estaba menos necesitado de demostración. Los indicios que ella presenta resultan muy convincentes.
Habida cuenta la complejidad de los elementos que maneja, el libro posee una coherencia impresionante. La línea argumentativa es muy vigorosa. Lo que ya me cuadra menos son las especulaciones sobre el modo en que la realidad virtual o la lectura de textos digitales afectará a nuestra percepción. Tampoco puedo asumir la propuesta de invertir sin más la «jerarquía de la razón» (147): el hecho de que la racionalidad fuera tradicionalmente un valor masculino no hace de ella algo menos valioso para la ciencia y para la vida sociedad. Por último, echo de menos indicaciones concretas sobre cómo integrar estas valiosas reflexiones al análisis literario o al estudio de la recepción empírica.
October 6, 2020
Self destructive academic language
Subject is not clear.
Language is academic, but a scrambled one
I think George Orwell's WHY I WRITE essay should be a must reading for academy to save them turning language into a misery.
This language is glorifying neither the academy nor the subject, rather it is destroying them.
There is another problem in this book.
Author uses names of loads of famous people from Kant to Nietzsche, Goethe to Balzac, Heideger to Derrida .
But she fails the link what they say to the subject.
Here is an example of what I am saying until now.
[ For Gadamer, the truth of the text is 'whole', therefore, towards and within the multiplicity of interpretations must be oriented insofar as these are interpretations of that text. For Derridean theorists such as the Yale deconstructionists, by contrast, meaning production is unstable and irreducibly plural, provoking and multiplying undecidability with every reading. Reading or interpretation does not so much superadd multiplicity to an inherently stable textual meaning, but amplifies the instability, the multiplicity to of the 'warring force of signification' within it. Accordingly, meaning , so that the multiplicity of meaning remains uncontained. As Derrida therefore counters Gadamer '[re]eading is freed from the horizon of meaning or truth' . With these contrary accounts of the location of multiplicity in mind , we will now examine the procedures by which each group of theorists seeks an accommodation with, or of , 'the multiplicity of meaning' ]
I liked chapters THE READER IN FICTION and THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN LITERRAY CRITISIM where there were some interesting historical information about fiction reading and its effects are presented, with a readable language.
Subject is not clear.
Language is academic, but a scrambled one
I think George Orwell's WHY I WRITE essay should be a must reading for academy to save them turning language into a misery.
This language is glorifying neither the academy nor the subject, rather it is destroying them.
There is another problem in this book.
Author uses names of loads of famous people from Kant to Nietzsche, Goethe to Balzac, Heideger to Derrida .
But she fails the link what they say to the subject.
Here is an example of what I am saying until now.
[ For Gadamer, the truth of the text is 'whole', therefore, towards and within the multiplicity of interpretations must be oriented insofar as these are interpretations of that text. For Derridean theorists such as the Yale deconstructionists, by contrast, meaning production is unstable and irreducibly plural, provoking and multiplying undecidability with every reading. Reading or interpretation does not so much superadd multiplicity to an inherently stable textual meaning, but amplifies the instability, the multiplicity to of the 'warring force of signification' within it. Accordingly, meaning , so that the multiplicity of meaning remains uncontained. As Derrida therefore counters Gadamer '[re]eading is freed from the horizon of meaning or truth' . With these contrary accounts of the location of multiplicity in mind , we will now examine the procedures by which each group of theorists seeks an accommodation with, or of , 'the multiplicity of meaning' ]
I liked chapters THE READER IN FICTION and THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN LITERRAY CRITISIM where there were some interesting historical information about fiction reading and its effects are presented, with a readable language.
February 20, 2024
كتاب نظريات القراءة
للكاتب كارين ليتاو
الكتاب عبارة عن عدة ابعاد ودراسات في ابعاد القراءة فالكتاب يطرح البعد الفكري و الفيسلوجي و الحسي في نواحي القراءة و يطرح تاريخ القراءة بالخصوص في اوروبا وكيف كانت خاصة لفئة من الناس دون الغير بل وياتي بتطور القراءة ونظرياتها وكيف اثر الادب على المجتمع وكيف تعددت القراءات، الكتاب لطيف وفتح بالي لابعاد ما كنت افكر فيها وخلاني اشوف كيف اهمية القراءة و الادب بالخصوص.
الكتاب كان ممل فيه كم جانب إلا وهم ان يحط مصادر كل كلام بعد الكلام ولا ويجعل تحت الصفحة بشكل يخلي الفرد يركز اكثر + أسلوب الطرح نوعا ما كان ممل.
للكاتب كارين ليتاو
الكتاب عبارة عن عدة ابعاد ودراسات في ابعاد القراءة فالكتاب يطرح البعد الفكري و الفيسلوجي و الحسي في نواحي القراءة و يطرح تاريخ القراءة بالخصوص في اوروبا وكيف كانت خاصة لفئة من الناس دون الغير بل وياتي بتطور القراءة ونظرياتها وكيف اثر الادب على المجتمع وكيف تعددت القراءات، الكتاب لطيف وفتح بالي لابعاد ما كنت افكر فيها وخلاني اشوف كيف اهمية القراءة و الادب بالخصوص.
الكتاب كان ممل فيه كم جانب إلا وهم ان يحط مصادر كل كلام بعد الكلام ولا ويجعل تحت الصفحة بشكل يخلي الفرد يركز اكثر + أسلوب الطرح نوعا ما كان ممل.
March 24, 2022
Read for uni
2nd book of semi iso, great theory book, well written, smashed it out in a day. Lost stars because of repetition in places, as well as odd structure.
2nd book of semi iso, great theory book, well written, smashed it out in a day. Lost stars because of repetition in places, as well as odd structure.
December 16, 2024
siempre se vuelve a este libro
November 29, 2016
Books, Bodies and Bibliomania. The importance of thinking, writing and reading ...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews