History of Reading
Spring 2007
Professor Burke
Books for purchase
Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading
Henri-Jean Martin, The History and Power of Writing
Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, The Coming of the Book
Robert Darnton, The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France
Isabel Hofmeyr, The Portable Bunyan
Gabriel Zaid, So Many Books
Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris
Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
This course is an examination of the closely interrelated histories of reading, writing and books, with a major focus on the so-called “Gutenberg revolution†and its impact on the publication, circulation and use of books.
Students will examine the roots and spread of reading, and wide variations in its forms and nature. The course is intended to explore why people across time and space have read, what the consequences and meaning of reading have been and might yet be, and even whether we should read. The course examines reading and publication as art, skill and technology.
Assignments for the course, in addition to regular attendance, engagement with the material, and participation in class, are two short papers, one longer research paper, and a weblog of overall reading experiences during one three-week period.
Tuesday January 23
Introduction
Orality and Literacy
Thursday January 25
Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy, short selection
Jack Goody, “The Construction of a Ritual Text: The Shift From Oral to Written Channelsâ€, in The Power of the Written Tradition
Johannes Fabian, “Keep Listeningâ€, in The Ethnography of Reading, ed. Jonathan Boyarin
Tuesday January 30
Henri-Jean Martin, “The Written and the Spoken Word†and “Speech and Lettersâ€, in The History and Power of Writing
Reading Before Gutenberg
Thursday February 1
David Diringer, “The Book in Embryoâ€, The Book Before Printing
Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading, pp. 27-65
Tuesday February 6
David Diringer, “Papyrus Booksâ€, The Book Before Printing
Henry Petroski, Chapter 2, The Book On the Bookshelf
Thursday February 8
Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading, pp. 67-123, pp. 177-211
The Gutenberg Revolution and the Dissemination of Reading
Tuesday February 13
Febvre and Martin, The Coming of the Book, Chapter 1-4
Thursday February 15
Febvre and Martin, The Coming of the Book, Chapter 5-8
Tuesday February 20
Henri-Jean Martin, The History and Power of Writing, Chap. 6-8
Thursday February 22
Adrian Johns, “Faust and the Pirates: The Cultural Construction of the Printing Revolutionâ€, in The Nature of the Book
Tuesday February 27
Elizabeth Eisenstein, “The Book of Nature Transformedâ€, in The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe
FIRST PAPER DUE
Thursday March 1st
Carlo Ginzberg, The Cheese and the Worms, pp. 1-61
Adrian Johns, “The Physiology of Readingâ€, in The Nature of the Book
Begin your reading diary.
Tuesday March 6th
Robert Darnton, The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France
Thursday March 8th
No class
SPRING BREAK
Tuesday March 20th
William Warner, Licensing Entertainment: The Elevation of Novel Reading in Britain, selections
Thursday March 22nd
Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes
Elizabeth Henry, Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African-American Literary Societies
Tuesday March 27
Isabel Hofmeyr, The Portable Bunyan
Thursday March 29th
Isabel Hofmeyr, The Portable Bunyan
Discussion of reading diaries and reading memoir.
SECOND PAPER (Reading Memoir) DUE.
Reflections on Reading and Modernity
Tuesday April 3rd
Alberto Manguel, A History of Reading, pp. 213-306
Thursday April 5th
Henri-Jean Martin, The History and Power of Writing, Chapters 9 and 10
Tuesday April 10th
Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book
Thursday April 12th
Gabriel Zaid, So Many Books
Tuesday April 17th
Michael Dirda, An Open Book
Nicholas Basbanes, A Gentle Madness
Look around the site Library Thing. (The tab “Zeitgeist” makes for interesting exploration.)
Thursday April 19th
Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris
Tuesday April 24th
Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
The Future of Reading
Thursday April 26th
The Institute for the Future of the Book.
Please explore this site very thoroughly, including reading back in the site weblog and some of the networked books such as Gamer Theory.
LibriVox
Tuesday May 1st
Presentations of final paper research.
Thursday May 3rd
James Shapiro, “The Sad Demise of the Personal Library†in Salewak, ed., A Passion For Books
Elizabeth Eisenstein, “The End of the Book?â€, in Salewak, ed., A Passion For Books
James O’Donnell, “The Persistence of the Old and the Pragmatics of the Newâ€, in Avatars of the Word
Jay David Bolter, Writing Space
Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture
FINAL PAPERS DUE by 5pm Monday MAY 14th. No extensions.