Texts, Printing, Readings

Abstract

This chapter presents a good introduction to Roger Chartier's, The Cultural Uses of Print in Early Modern France. Fernando de Rojas' prologue clearly indicates the central tension of every history of reading—and this is why he is worthy of consideration. Reading is a creative practice, which invents singular meanings and significations that are not reducible to the intentions of authors of texts or producers of books. Rojas also implies that the history of genres, both textual and typographical, could provide the underpinnings for the history of discourse as formulated by Michel Foucault. Printing lowers the cost of the book's manufacture and shortens the time of production. Cultural history might find a new niche at the crossroads of textual criticism, the history of the book, and cultural sociology.

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