Reading

This chapter discusses scholarly approaches to the history of reading in the English Renaissance. Using the example of Robert Burton, the author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, it surveys major critical pathways as scholars have moved from the reader‐response theory of the 1960s and 1970s to a more hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inA Handbook of English Renaissance Literary Studies pp. 324 - 336
Main Author Lund, Mary Ann
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 27.09.2017
Subjects
authorship
interpretation
libraries
material culture
reader response
Reading
Renaissance history
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Summary:This chapter discusses scholarly approaches to the history of reading in the English Renaissance. Using the example of Robert Burton, the author of The Anatomy of Melancholy, it surveys major critical pathways as scholars have moved from the reader‐response theory of the 1960s and 1970s to a more historicized understanding of the reading process. It considers studies of individual readers and the material traces they leave behind, the way that Renaissance authors addressed readers and imagined responses towards their own texts, the link between reading and composition, and the culture of book‐giving and the social networks of texts. It ends by noting the renewed interest in textuality as a counterpoint to the strongly material cultural approaches to reading history.
ISBN:9781118458785
1118458788
DOI:10.1002/9781118458747.ch22