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Silent reading is now universally accepted as normal; indeed reading aloud to oneself may be interpreted as showing a lack of ability or understanding. Yet reading aloud was usual, indeed unavoidable, throughout antiquity and most of the middle ages. Saenger investigates the origins of the gradual separation of words within a continuous written text and the consequent development of silent reading. He then explores the spread of these practices throughout western Europe, and the eventual domination of silent reading in the late medieval period. A detailed work with substantial notes and appendices for reference.
This second volume in the series deals with the effects of early printing on the text, format and use of the Bible, and investigates the unique features of various editions of 15th-century printed Bible as well as the social, political and technological circumstances under which they were produced.
Jocelyn Small's erudite volume represents a timely insight into the topical areas of literacy and memory, and provides a controversial and challenging analysis of the cognitive processes and their modes of display and retrieval.
Towards a History of Consciousness: Space, Time, and Death offers a cogent and compelling discussion of the neglected topic of the history of consciousness. An analysis of our postmodern ontology reveals deep but neglected roots. What are those roots and how did they grow? Is there a self without consciousness? What is the relation of the self to the individual? Does the recognition of death contribute to the growth of consciousness? As a survey of western history, this work pushes the boundaries of the understanding of consciousness in intriguing and sometimes provocative directions. This integrative study is intended for the serious, curious student and thinker.
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism Shortlisted for the Christian Gauss Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society A history of the chapter from its origins in antiquity to today Why do books have chapters? With this seemingly simple question, Nicholas Dames embarks on a literary journey spanning two millennia, revealing how an ancient editorial technique became a universally recognized component of narrative art and a means to register the sensation of time. Dames begins with the textual compilations of the Roman world, where chapters evolved as a tool to organize information. He goes on to discuss the earliest divisional systems of the Gospels and the segmentation of mediev...
Eminent French historian Henri-Jean Martin explores the role of the book and book industry in early modern France.
A sideways look at books that sheds light on the activities of authors, printers, and readers during the English Renaissance
This collection of essays, which derive from a symposium held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005, tells the story of how medieval art was collected by both individuals and institutions in the American Midwest. This book will appeal to both medievalists and scholars of nineteenth- and twentieth century American history. In addition, it will also appeal to scholars who are interested in museum studies and the history of collecting. The essays in the first section, “Collecting and Displaying Medieval Art,” consider the formation of medieval art collections at influential cultural institutions in three of the most important centers of industry and culture in the Midwest: Chicago, Detroi...
Reading Material in Early Modern England rediscovers the practices and representations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English readers. By telling their stories and insisting upon their variety, Brayman Hackel displaces both the singular 'ideal' reader of literacy theory and the elite male reader of literacy history.
"As the humanities in higher education struggle with a jobs crisis and declining enrollments, the travails of "English" have been especially acute and long-standing. No scholar has analyzed the discipline's contradictions as authoritatively as John Guillory, whose 1993 book Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation remains a classic and whose subsequent essays on the profession of literary study have been widely cited. In this much-anticipated new book, Guillory shows how literary study has been organized, both historically and in the modern era, both before and after its professionalization. The traces of this volatile history, he shows, have solidified into permanent featur...