Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses the history of reading in the high and late medieval period in the Middle East in depth. It offers a detailed and wide-ranging analysis of the period, exploring the key themes of literacy, orality and aurality.
Table of Contents1 Reading and writerly culture - Literacy, orality and aurality - The written word in the Middle Period - 'Popular' practices of reading 2 A city is reading: Popular and learned reading sessions - Methodological considerations - Reading Communities between scholarly sessions and popular sessions - The order of seating: Social and cultural differences - Motivations to participate in popular readings - Changes over time: Reading certificates and 'popular' culture 3 Learning to read: Popularisation and the written word in children's schools - Textualisation and curricular changes - Methods to teach reading and writing - The spread of the endowed school and social changes 4 Local endowed libraries and their readers - The central ruler library and the 'decline' of post-classical libraries - The development of the local endowed library - Profiles of holdings in private and local endowed libraries 5 Popular reading practices - The popular epic - Popular epics and the written word - Textualisation and challenges to scholarly authority - Writing for a popular readership 6 Conclusion
