The rapid growth of novels in late eighteenth-century England was an important communications industry development. A large number of manuscripts of novels were available to printers at low cost. Printing novels was a profit-driven business, as was book-selling and book-lending through commercial circulating libraries. Printers chose novels to print with keen regard for market demand. … Continue reading authors and readers of early English novels
The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) this fall will release another report lamenting the decline of literary reading. From the late seventeenth century through the early twentieth century, many cultural leaders would have applauded a decline in reading of popular novels. Now, however, such a decline is a cause for grave concern. Fiction … Continue reading reading gender gaps, or, reading at risk, seriously
The proliferation of novels since the 18th century has prompted claims of a reading revolution: a shift from intensive reading to extensive reading. … Read the post novel content creation and the 18th-century reading revolution
Irving Wladawsky-Berger observes that watching a film, compared to reading a novel, seems to deliver similar goods at less cost: Given my utter inability to keep up with all the work and general interest material I’d like to read, I find it very satisfying to be able to enjoy a film in a couple of … Continue reading watch a film or read a novel?