Print Cultures: Textuality and the History of Books

Print media are ubiquitous, appearing in myriad forms, material configurations, and genres. This course investigates the concept of print as a mass medium, the first produced by means of mechanical reproduction. We will give particular attention to the theoretical problematics that govern its analysis and to competing concepts of print as a form. The course will trace the emergence of mass literacy and reading habits, print culture and the public sphere, the rise of the novel and history of the book, as well as concepts of literariness and representation, mediation and signification, narrativity and virtuality, the work and the text.