In this seminar we will focus on the role of socio-cultural values in the development of British book culture from the Middle Ages to modern times. Against the background of modern theoretical approaches to the analysis of values and value discourses in general, we will in particular discuss book-related value concepts of the past with special regard to aspects of materiality and textuality and their impact on book production, distribution and reading practices. Special topics will be: Christianity and the value of books and reading, Renaissance humanism and the ‚new learning‘, the symbolic value of books (e.g. in gift-giving practices), the love of books (book collecting and private libraries, bibliophily/bibliomania), the development of antiquarian activities and an antiquarian book market (‚rare books‘), as well as the role of private presses (e.g. William Morris and his Kelmscott Press at the end of the nineteenth century). Finally we will have a closer look at the controversial debates about the ‚end of the book‘ and the decline in reading books from the second half of the 20th century till today, a book culture by many seen as first threatened by electronic media (esp.TV) in the second half of the 20th century, and at present even more so by digital media, but we will also discuss more recent trends marked by a renewed interest in reading books, often in close connection with social media.

Kurs im HIS-LSF