Revealing the Reader
28–29 June 2012
Recent developments in the history of the book demonstrate that an interest in the material history of print culture inevitably leads us to the question of readers. How well can we understand the past, present and future of print culture without examining the uses to which it is put by its audience? This question serves not only to remind us of the primacy of the economic relationship between readers, writers and publishers, but draws our attention to the variety of cultural, social, political, and interpersonal roles that reading has played and continues to play.
Revealing The Reader will bring together scholars with a common interest in contemporary and historical reading practices with the aim of showcasing current research in this rapidly expanding field, and providing a forum for discussion and debate on the state of reading research.
Papers will address topics such as:
- Methodologies for researching readers and their practices
- Histories of reading
- The material trace of reading
- Historical and contemporary evidence of readerships and reading practices
- The relationship between individual readers and reading communities (and vice versa)
- Case studies of reading practices and reading communities
- The diverse relationships between reading communities, publishers and authors etc.
- The relationships between reading communities and genre
- Locations of reading
- Technologies of reading
- The role of existing and emerging technologies in revealing readers
Papers investigate reading practices and readers from the perspective of the sociology of literature, book history, literary studies, mixed methods research, reader response theory, history, cultural studies, and the study of material culture.
Past and Present Conferences and Seminars
Visit our archives of conferences and seminars - recordings of many papers are available for download: