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Buffy Hamilton
ELAN 8005
Response Paper: A History of Reading
July 3, 2005
After finishing this interesting history of reading, I found that I
needed a few days to digest my journey through Manguel’s book to
contemplate my thoughts and responses to the text. Manguel’s story
of reading over the ages of humankind was an intriguing blend of
facts, philosophy, and narrative, not a chronological presentation of
events related to the evolution of reading. Although I embarked on
the reading of this book with my independent study questions in mind,
in the end I was more intrigued by his interpretations of acts of
reading and what it means to be a reader. Consequently, I will frame
my responses in both lights.
A History of Reading and My Essential Questions
At the beginning of this independent study, I designed the
following questions to be my overarching framework for my readings,
research, and explorations:
What different kinds of literate communities exist, and how are they
sponsors of literacy?
How do these literate communities and literacy sponsors shape
lifelong reading? How do they affect cultural perceptions about
reading?

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How do books and reading define culture? How does culture define
books and reading?
In many ways, this reading seemed to reinforce the ideas in Deborah
Brandt’s book, Literacy in American Lives: across space, time, and
many cultures, literacy sponsors determined who had access to
literacy, a person’s literacy growth, and the kinds of literacy
experiences. Whereas the impact of literacy sponsors in Brandt’s
study felt more localized and individual, this examination of the history
of reading shows the far-reaching powers of literacy sponsors, powers
that have literally shaped history and the evolution of human
civilization. When one looks at the clout wielded by literacy sponsors,
it is rather humbling to realize their subtle yet cumulative impact on
culture, politics, and society.
Manguel’s examination of the history of reading also echoes
Brandt’s concept of the link between a free democratic society and
literacy. For example, when Cuban workers instituted the practice of
reading aloud in cigar factories, those in position of authority thwarted
those efforts because workers began to use literacy as a means for
seeking better working conditions rather than simply accepting the
practices of those in control of the factories. (108-114). During the
1800s, slaves in the American South were outlawed from learning how
to read or write because the slaves, “…. might find dangerous

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revolutionary ideas in books. They did not believe those who argued
that literacy restricted to the Bible would strengthen the bonds of
society; they realized that if slaves could read the Bible, they could
also read abolitionist tracts, and that even in the Scriptures the slaves
might find inflammatory notions of revolt and freedom…Learning to
read was, for slaves, not an immediate passport to freedom but rather
a way of gaining access to one of the powerful instruments of their
oppressors: the book”(279-281). Literacy has been and continues to
be a means of perpetuating practices, groups, and ideals that enable
and entrench the dominant stakeholders in a society. Even in modern
society, history repeats itself daily: the same groups that have
traditionally been literacy poor and been oppressed by their limited
access to literacy continue to be manipulated by sponsors of literacy in
varying degrees today worldwide.
Throughout Manguel’s exploration of the history of reading, there is
a constant tension between the liberating and dangerous powers of
literacy and reading. Reading is more than decoding symbols and
signs on a piece of paper or a clay tablet; to read is to think, to have a
means to shape one’s destiny in a literate society, to determine one’s
fate rather than to be a victim of circumstance and one’s environment.
Since the advent of reading and the flourishing of literate societies,
Manguel asserts, “In every literate society, learning to read is

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something of an initiation, a ritualized passage out of a state of
dependency and rudimentary communication. The child learning to
read is admitted into the communal memory by way of books, and
thereby becomes acquainted with a common past which he or she
renews, to a greater or lesser degree, in every reading”(71). To
become literate is to have more opportunities yet to perpetuate the
dominant literacy practices and experiences of a society.
In the United States, parents and teachers ingrain the concept that
reading is the key to critical thinking and a successful education, which
in turn, are the stepping-stones to a fulfilling and better life, yet
contemporary literacy sponsors institute practices and policies that
make these stepping-stones slippery and treacherous. In American
schools, teachers and administrators uphold reading and critical
thinking as the cornerstones of opportunity and success, yet the
explosion of standardized testing and commercialized reading
programs, such as Accelerated Reader, limit critical thinking and
standards of learning instead of purportedly “raising the bar.” What
signals do these practices and sponsors of literacy send to children
about reading? We extol the virtues of reading as something to enrich
one’s life, but in the end, reading and literacy are often reduced to
what Brandt refers to as an economic commodity.

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This tension between reading as something to be both revered and
loathed is evident in both small and large ways in American society.
Children who prefer to read rather than playing sports or participating
in other extracurricular activities are often labeled as “introverted” and
not as popular as their peers. While a person can be a reader in the
elementary school years and still be viewed positively for the most
part by children and adults, adolescents who are readers are often
marginalized by their peers and excluded from the “popular” crowd.
High school athletes are the subjects of school and community
recognition, often elevated to a near celerity status, but no similar
recognition exists for readers unless they have accumulated an
extraordinary amount of Accelerated Reader points. Even in this
instance, reading is not valued in and of itself, but reading is viewed as
a competition, not a life-enriching activity. In fact, students who
practice reading as “civil disobedience” to question the “status quo” in
a high school are often labeled as troublemakers who are disruptive
and troublesome, not free thinkers who are exercising their right to
practice the ideals set forth by our nation’s forefathers. Manguel
observes the divergent perceptions as an act that is both revered and
feared:

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“But not only totalitarian governments fear reading.
Readers are bullied in schoolyards and in locker rooms as
much as in government offices and prisons. Almost
everywhere, the community of readers has an ambiguous
reputation that comes from its acquired authority and
perceived power. Something in the relationship between
a reader and a book is recognized as wise and fruitful, but
it is also seen as disdainfully exclusive and
excluding…Reality---harsh, necessary reality---was seen
to conflict irredeemably with the evasive dream world of
books. With this excuse, and with increasing effect, the
artificial dichotomy between life and reading is actively
encouraged by those in power. Demotic regimes demand
that we forget, and therefore they brand books as
superfluous luxuries” (21).
In light of my reading of this book, it seems that literate
communities flourish wherever humans have a need that only literacy
and reading can fulfill. This reading also seems to reinforce Deborah
Brandt’s conception of sponsors of literacy and their power to shape
literacy practices in any given society regardless of the culture or
historical context. At the same time, this reading has left with some
key questions:
What is “the” or “a” future history of reading? How will changes
in the world’s economy, power structure, and technology shape
and influence the place of reading and books in contemporary
literate societies? Will a history of reading repeat itself in the
future, or are there possibilities we cannot yet envision?
What traditional sponsors of literacy may fall out of power, and
what new sponsors of literacy will replace them? For example,
libraries were once powerful sponsors of literacy, but how has
that role changed with the advent of technology? While they
seem to influence information access, libraries no longer seem to
truly influence book production or people’s interest in reading.
Instead, commercial bookstores (physical and online) or

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sponsors like Oprah Winfrey’s “Oprah’s Book Club” seem to do
more to fuel people’s interest in reading than public or even
school libraries.
Acts of Reading and Readers
While Manguel’s story of the history of reading was enlightening
and intriguing, I found myself mesmerized by Manguel’s rich accounts
of acts of readers and reading, particularly his personal recollections of
his reading experiences in his lifetime. I found his personal anecdotes
fascinating not only because I personally connected with his
experiences, but I also found his descriptions to be rich because they
resonated with my earlier studies of reader response theories and
lifelong reading. In addition, his accounts seemed to transcend the
analytical lens of “sponsors of literacy” and instead give an intimate
and personal account of a reader.
After participating in a group reading and literary anthropology of
The English Patient in ELAN 8410 in the spring of 2004, I observed:
After revisiting these questions after our last class meeting and
contemplating my experiences as first-time reader of The English
Patient, I began wondering more about how acts of reading
contribute to our identity and construct a “communal” text of
ourselves. How do acts of reading “write” the “texts” of
ourselves and help us “read” the world? How do acts of reading
“write” us as actual readers? What powers do words have to
construct readers and how they read the world? In what ways
do we become “communal histories” and “communal books”
through acts of reading over time?
Manguel speaks to the communal and transactional nature of reading
when he asserts that, “We all read ourselves and the world around us

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in order to glimpse what and where we are. We read to understand,
or to begin to understand. We cannot do but read. Reading, almost
as much as breathing, is our essential function” (7). In this sense,
reading is not a tool for democracy, economic gain, or power, but
reading is the essence of one’s humanity, a profound act. Acts of
reading help write our own identities and although each act of reading
is temporal and unique to that reading in the context of that moment
in the reader’s life, that act of reading conditions and influences all
acts of reading, past, present, and future. Manguel echoes this
sentiment, stating, “This light shines differently on all of us, and
differently also at the various stages of our lives. We never return to
the same book or even to the same page, because in the varying light
we change and the book changes, and our memories grow bright and
run dim and bright again, and we never know exactly what it is we
remember. What is certain is that the act of reading, which rescues so
many voices from the past, preserves them sometimes well into the
future, where we may be able to make use of them in brave and
unexpected ways” (64). These acts of readings not only construct our
identities as individuals, but they contribute to the organic concept of
what it means to be human and help us become part of a larger
“communal book”: humanity. My reading of Manguel’s chapters, “The
Last Page” and “The Book of Memory” evoked my memory of these

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thoughts that resonated with me after reading The English Patient in
2004:
In other words, a reading of a text does not occur in a vacuum,
but our transactions with text simultaneously invoke multiple
voices and experiences. In a sense, reading is an act of
participating in a community because you bring your
experiences, values, and beliefs to the text; consequently your
transactions with the text condition how you “write” or
“construct” meaning of those experiences, values, and beliefs.
Those moments of intersection in an act of reading add another
layer, subtle though it may be, to your construction of the world
and to the “communal” dimension of “self” as well as your
transactions with the text. Just as Hana used books and words
to cope with a world she could not longer tolerate and to
construct a new one in which she could make meaning, so do we
use acts of reading allow us to enter a world without walls and to
open ourselves to reinvention and reconstruction, a text that is
constantly under revision.
My reading of Manguel only reinforces my belief that reading is an
organic act that constantly revises our notions of “self” and the world
around us. With each act of reading, we experience in varying
degrees the death of an old self and the birth of a new one that is
induced by an act of reading.
The chapter “Stealing Books” resonated with me both theoretically
and personally. Although I never have enough bookshelves or storage
space to hold all the books I own, I find it difficult to give up any of
them. While I often fear I will need a particular book at any given
moment, I hold onto many books for sentimental reasons just as
Manguel did because they remind me of my thinking or a version of
myself at a particular point in time. I still own nearly all the books of

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my childhood as well as most of the books from my undergraduate
days as well as the books I’ve accumulated in my “teacher” life of the
last thirteen years. When I open one of these books, not only do I
recall the story or the words of the book, but I also recall the
experience of reading that book and what was happening in my life at
that time, a multi-sensory experience rooted in both past and present.
I love the physical book not only for the text itself, but I love the
book for the experience of reading it represents. In The English
Patient, the mysterious English patient created a “communal book of
self” he had constructed from gluing and pasting bits and pieces of
other texts and experiences into his Herodotus book; this concept of a
“communal book of self” and memory reminded me of Manguel’s
description of books as placeholders for memory and identity: “I
delight in knowing that I’m surrounded by a sort of inventory of my
life, with intimations of my future. I like discovering, in almost
forgotten volumes, traces of the reader I once was…But then I have
also had to acknowledge a grave, irreparable loss. I know that
something dies when I give up my books, and that my memory keeps
going back to them with mournful nostalgia. And now, with the years,
my memory can recall less and less, and seems to me like a looted
library: many of the rooms have been closed, and in the ones still
open for consultation there are huge gaps on the shelves”(237-238).

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Manguel’s concept of the book as a holding space of memory and
the construction of the communal self echo my 2004 interpretation of
Dennis Sumara’s ideas in Chapters 1 and 2 of Private Readings in
Public: Schooling the Literary Imagination:
Sumara’s observation that, “Memory is a collective phenomenon:
past events can only be understood within the space between
the remembered event, the present moment, and projections of
what might be” (3) reminded me of our discussion about
memories, and I began to wonder how do we “re-read” and “re-
write” memories and if this continual process might be similar to
the way we “re-read” and “re-write” reading experiences with
texts. Sumara’s assertion that only one thing constitutes the act
of reading, “…the experience of reading as it becomes part of our
remembered, lived, and projected lives” (5), seems to parallel
his concept of memory.
Manguel’s musings in this chapter as well as other sections of the book
spoke to the ideas advanced in the Sumara text, but the parallels they
draw between reading, memory, and construction of identity are
striking. Of utmost importance for me, though, is that both men’s
conclusions are borne from their own experiences as readers and
literary anthropology; they have come to know about readers and
reading through an examination of their own private and public
experiences as readers.
Finally, “Private Reading” was a chapter that caused me to give
more credence to places of reading. Like Manguel, I most enjoy
reading in the bed (a lifelong passion!), but I also enjoy curling up on
a cozy sofa. In addition, I truly love reading for hours on a cloudy,

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cool, and rainy day although I do have fond memories of reading The
Odyssey and Greek tragedies on warm spring afternoons as a college
freshman. On occasion, I do get engrossed in a reading in a place
outside of my home. I recently started twice a week allergy shots,
and part of the regimen involves a mandatory 20-minute wait after
receiving the shot to ensure the patient does not have a negative
reaction to the shot. During the first month of my shots, I was
engrossed in Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides. One afternoon, I was
thoroughly lost in the book when I heard the nurse say, “What are you
reading?” I looked up to see if she was talking to me; when I realized
her question was directed to me, I told her the name of the book. She
responded, “It must be really good! You have been here for over 40
minutes, and everyone else who came in after you got your shot has
left!” I looked around, startled not only at the passage of time, but
also by the fact I was lost in a book outside of my home.
I had never really given much thought to how where we read
conditions a reading experience. However, Manguel maintains that,
“…not only do certain books demand a contrast between their contents
and their surroundings; some books seem to demand particular
positions for reading, postures of the reader’s body that in turn require
reading places appropriate to those postures. Often the pleasure
derived from reading largely depends on the bodily comfort of the

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reading”(151). Perhaps the importance of place of reading may
explain why many students find it difficult to read in a classroom or
library, which are often outfitted with uncomfortable seating and are
not environments that really do not allow the reader to engage in
reading as an act and experience that is “…a self-centered act,
immobile, free from ordinary social conventions, invisible to the
world…”(153). I think it would be fascinating to interview individuals
about reading experiences in their favorite places and to examine how
“place” influences reading experiences and memories of reading.
In conclusion, the reading of this text was gratifying on a personal
level as well as a theoretical level. I enjoyed how my previous
readings related to this larger question of “lifelong readers” and
“reader response theories” transacted with this particular reading.
Most importantly, this reading has opened up some new questions,
lines of thinking, and possibilities for research for the remainder of this
semester as well as the second part of this independent study into Fall
2005. I look forward to continuing this journey and exploration of
reading!

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References
Manguel, A. (1996). A history of reading. New York: Penguin Books.