| Description |
1 online resource (xxv, 590 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
Cultural sociology |
|
Cultural sociology.
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| Contents |
1. Introduction / María Angélica Thumala Olave -- 2. Reading matters: Toward a cultural sociology of reading / María Angélica Thumala Olave -- 3. Why do peole read zines? / Ash Watson and Andy Bennett -- 4. Between self and other: Anais Nin's transformative erotics / Jessica Widner -- 5. The sociological truth of fiction / Jan Váňa -- 6. Book love: Attachment to books in the United Kingdom / María Angélica Thumala Olave -- 7. Easy to handle and travel with / Anachiara Raia -- 8. Spatial reading / Günter Leypoldt -- 9. Editor's love / Joshua B. Silver and Claudio E. Benzecry -- 10. Reviewing strategies and the normalization of uncertain texts / Álvaro Santana Acuña -- 11. Customer reviews of "highbrow" literature: a comparative reception study of The Inheritance of Loss and The White Tiger / Daniel Allington -- 12. A self enlarged by fiction / Cristina Vischer Bruns -- 13. Reading, novels, and the ethics of sociability: Taking Simmel to an independent English bookshop / Daniel R. Smith -- 14. The value of books and reading as social practices in nineteenth-century Chile / Juan Poblete -- 15. Between avant-garde and kitsch : Intellectual bookstores and post-Mao China's reading culture / Eve Yi Lin -- 16. The politics of happily-ever-after: Romance genre fiction as aesthetic public sphere / Anna Michelson -- 17. Clandestine reading practices in the Chinese Cultural Revolution / Eddy U -- 18. The decline of literary reading and the rise of the literal mind / Omid Azadibougar -- 19. The functions of reading in Chinese literature and society / Lena Henningsen |
| Summary |
This book showcases recent work about reading, in sociology and the humanities across the globe. From different standpoints within the cultural sociology of reading, the eighteen chapters examine a range of reading practices, genres, texts and reading spaces. They contribute to current debates about the valuation of literature and the role of cultural intermediaries; the iconic properties of textual objects and of the practice of reading itself; how reading supports personal, social and political reflection; bookstores as spaces for sociability and the interplay of high and commercial cultures; the political uses of reading for nation-building and propaganda, and the dangers and gratifications of reading under repression. In line with the cultural sociology of readings focus on meaning, materiality and emotion, this book explores the existential, ethical and political consequences of reading in specific locations and historical moments.-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
María Angélica Thumala Olave is Lecturer in Global Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Her recent research explores the personal and political significance of reading and books in Latin America and the UK |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Books and reading -- Sociological aspects.
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|
Books and reading -- Sociological aspects
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Thumala Olave, María Angélica, editor.
|
| ISBN |
9783031132278 |
|
3031132270 |
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