Elspeth Jajdelska Libri

Focusing on the evolution of reading practices, this work explores how silent reading influenced the emergence of the narrator in literature. It presents compelling arguments that connect literary studies with eighteenth-century history and the development of book and print culture, making it a significant contribution to understanding the interplay between reading habits and narrative techniques.

Examining issues such as status and speech, ideas of literary and verbal decorum, readership and the history of reading, material books, and the history of speech and performance, Elspeth Jajdelska draws on anthropological findings to offer a new account of the changing relationship between speech and writing between 1600 and 1750.