Books and other texts have not always been read in the way that we read them today. The modern practice of reading - privately, silently, with the eyes alone - is only one way of reading which, for many centuries, existed alongside other forms of reading. In the ancient world, in the Middle Ages and as late as the 17th century, many texts were written for the voice. They were addressed to the ear as much as the eye, and they used forms that were oriented towards the demands of oral performance. This is one of the central themes explored in this account of the changing practices of reading...
Books and other texts have not always been read in the way that we read them today. The modern practice of reading - privately, silently, with the eye...
The fear of oblivion obsessed medieval and early modern Europe. Stone, wood, cloth, parchment, and paper all provided media onto which writing was inscribed as a way to ward off loss. And the task was not easy in a world in which writing could be destroyed, manuscripts lost, or books menaced with destruction. Paradoxically, the successful spread of printing posed another danger, namely, that an uncontrollable proliferation of textual materials, of matter without order or limit, might allow useless texts to multiply and smother thought. Not everything written was destined for the archives;...
The fear of oblivion obsessed medieval and early modern Europe. Stone, wood, cloth, parchment, and paper all provided media onto which writing was ...
How should we read a text that does not exist, or present a play the manuscript of which is lost and the identity of whose author cannot be established for certain?
Such is the enigma posed by Cardenio - a play performed in England for the first time in 1612 or 1613 and attributed forty years later to Shakespeare (and Fletcher). Its plot is that of a 'novella' inserted into Don Quixote, a work that circulated throughout the major countries of Europe, where it was translated and adapted for the theatre. In England, Cervantes' novel was known and cited even before it was...
How should we read a text that does not exist, or present a play the manuscript of which is lost and the identity of whose author cannot be establi...
How should we read a text that does not exist, or present a play the manuscript of which is lost and the identity of whose author cannot be established for certain?
Such is the enigma posed by Cardenio - a play performed in England for the first time in 1612 or 1613 and attributed forty years later to Shakespeare (and Fletcher). Its plot is that of a 'novella' inserted into Don Quixote, a work that circulated throughout the major countries of Europe, where it was translated and adapted for the theatre. In England, Cervantes' novel was known and cited even before it was...
How should we read a text that does not exist, or present a play the manuscript of which is lost and the identity of whose author cannot be establi...
The leading historians who are the authors of this work offer a highly original account of one of the most important transformations in Western culture: the change brought about by the discovery and development of printing in Europe. Focusing primarily on printed matter other than books, The Culture of Print emphasizes the specific and local contexts in which printed materials, such as broadsheets, flysheets, and posters, were used in modern Europe. The authors show that festive, ritual, cultic, civic, and pedagogic uses of print were social activities that involved deciphering...
The leading historians who are the authors of this work offer a highly original account of one of the most important transformations in Western cul...