Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101967

Coordinator Simon Burrows Opens in new window

Description This Subject explores the globally-transformative social and cultural changes associated withs books and reading from the European print revolution of the mid-fifteenth century to the present day. It considers the key innovations and continuities in the shift from oral and medieval manuscript cultures to printed books, before going on to explore the societal impact of the mass-produced printed book. Key topics include the relationship between printed books and the Protestant reformation, scientific revolution and Enlightenment; the ‘reading revolution’ and rise of the novel and popular literacy; reader responses; the emergence of the public sphere and mass media, and their links to consumer culture, colonialism and political modernity. Taking a culturally comparative approach wherever possible, the Subject also discusses indigenous peoples’ encounters with print, attempts to control print through censorship and the future of the printed book. Assessment tasks and class activities will provide students with the opportunity to engage with printed artefacts and to hone their research skills using a variety of cutting-edge digital resources to explore print culture and reader response.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Literature

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject

Restrictions

Successful completion of 40 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Discuss the development of the book as a cultural and material object.

2. Critically analyse contemporary and historiographical debates about the past and future of the book and of reading.

3. Use digital resources to research the history of printed works or individual readers.

4. Critically evaluate issues of medium and form in relation to reader experience and cultural transformation.

Subject Content

Topics may include:

1. Scribal Culture in the Middle Ages
2. The Print Revolution in the West
3. Print and the Protestant Reformation
4. Reading, Science and Enlightenment
5. The Reading Revolution Debate and the Rise of the Novel
6. Popular and Associational Reading
7. Public Sphere, Politics and Revolution
8. Print and the Consumer Revolution
9. Censorship Regimes
10. Print and Colonisation
11. Literacy and Education
12. Mass Media and Social Control
13. Digital Publishing and the Future of the Book