A Topic Worthy of Investigation

This book foregrounds reading as a topic worthy of investigation in its own right rather than as a sub-section of histories of the book, sociologies of literacy, or theories of literature.

As our knowledge of reading changes in step with the media and the scholarly tools used to apprehend it, a more precise understanding of this topic is crucial to the discipline’s future.

This collection therefore seeks to introduce new ways of conceptualizing the term’s forms, boundaries, and uses. Its contributors bring varied vocabularies to bear on the contested nature and continued importance of reading.