Reading Culture and Writing Practices in Nineteenth-Century France

by Lyons, Martyn

• ISBN13: 9780802093578
• ISBN10: 0802093574
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-30
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Between about 1830 and the outbreak of the First World War, print culture, reading, and writing transformed cultural life in Western Europe in many significant ways. Book production and consumption increased dramatically, and practices such as letter- and diary-writing were widespread. This study demonstrates the importance of the nineteenth century in French cultural change and illustrates the changing priorities and concerns of l'histoire du livre since the 1970s.From the 1830s on, book production experienced an industrial revolution which led to the emergence of a mass literary culture by the close of the century. At the same time, the western world acquired mass literacy. New categories of readers became part of the reading public while western society also learned to write. Reading Culture and Writing Practices in Nineteenth-Century France examines how the concerns of historians have shifted from a search for statistical sources to more qualitative assessments of readers' responses. Martyn Lyons argues that autobiographical sources are vitally important to this investigation and he considers examples of the intimate and everyday writings of ordinary people.Featuring original and intriguing insights as well as references to material hitherto inaccessible to English readers, this study presents a form of 'history from below' with emphasis on the individual reader and writer, and his or her experiences and perceptions.

Author Biography

Martyn Lyons is Professor in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Table of Contents

Tables, Maps, Images	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction: The Importance of the Nineteenth Century	p. 3
The Statistical Approach
In Search of the Bestsellers of Nineteenth-Century France, 1815-1850	p. 15
Towards a National Literary Culture in France: Bookshops and the Decline of the Colporteur	p. 43
Censorship and Commemoration
Fires of Expiation: Book-Burnings and Catholic Missions in Restoration France	p. 65
Literary Commemoration and the Uses of History: The Gutenberg Festival in Strasbourg, 1840	p. 92
Readers
The Reading Experience of Worker-Autobiographers in Nineteenth-Century Europe	p. 111
Oral Culture and the Rural Community: The Veillee d'Hiver	p. 139
Why We Need an Oral History of Reading	p. 151
Writers
Reading Practices, Writing Practices: Intimate Writings in Nineteenth-Century France	p. 167
French Soldiers and Their Correspondence: Towards a History of Writing Practices in the First World War	p. 184
Calculating Bestsellers in Early Nineteenth-Century France	p. 201
Notes	p. 207
Select Bibliography	p. 231
Index	p. 239
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