Essay
A History of Reading
Alberto Manguel · 1996
Synopsis
A history of reading that disdains chronology and proceeds like a reader, skipping ahead and rereading, according to Stephen Smith. It begins with the first readers of Babylon and passes through the appearance of silent reading, the shift from scroll to codex, forbidden books, translation, book thieves and book burners. Alan Jacobs notes in it the reader who read aloud to cigar rollers, Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted with a book in her hand, and the evenings when the author read to a blind writer.
Context
Written in English, the book appeared from Knopf in 1996; Stephen Smith describes it as a book of individual experience, and Alan Jacobs as a series of snapshots rather than a history. Christine Le Boeuf translated it into French for Actes Sud in 1998, and her version has been reissued up to 2024, according to the BnF. Its author now directs, in Lisbon, a centre for historical studies devoted to reading.
Who it is for
An essay written in English, which can be read in separate chapters; translated into French by Christine Le Boeuf.
Prizes and reception
Prix Médicis de l'essai for its French translation, published in 1998, according to the Collège de France.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.