Reading and the Body The Physical Practice of Reading
Literary theory has been dominated by a mind/body dualism that often eschews the role of the body in reading. Focusing on reading as a physical practice, McLaughlin analyzes the role of the eyes, the hands, postures and gestures, bodily habits and other p
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Reading and the Body The Physical Practice of Reading
Thomas Mc Laughlin
READING AND THE BODY
Copyright © Thomas Mc Laughlin, 2015. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-54131-4 All rights reserved. First published in 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-57057-7 ISBN 978-1-137-52289-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-52289-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mc Laughlin, Thomas. Reading and the body : the physical practice of reading / Thomas Mc Laughlin. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Books and reading. 2. Human body. I. Title. Z1003.M48 2015 0289.9—dc23
2015010524
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2015 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures
vii
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction: Reading Bodies
1
1 The Reading Eye: Hexis and Hermeneutics
43
2 Reading Posture: Discipline and Adaptive Intelligence
71
3 I’m Not Here: The Reading Body in Physical and Social Space
109
4 “Sundry Ulterior Transformations”: The Habit of Reading and Eating
141
5 The Future of the Reading Body: Reading in Digital Environments
163
Works Cited
195
Index
205
Figures
0.1 1.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8
Photograph by Frederick Hallyer Jenny Holzer, For Chicago Lucio Rossi, A Young Woman Reading Correct Posture Girl Reading Comics Woman Reading Closely Maria Spartali Stillman, Love Sonnets Woman Reading on the Subway Monk Reading Bob Dylan in the green room at Rolling Thunder Revue, browsing through Elsa’s Housebook (David R. Godine, Publ.) c. 1974, Elsa Dorfman 2.9 W. B. Yeats Reading
5 61 76 80 82 91 93 96 102
104 106
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following administrators at Appalachian
State University for their support of this project and for providing the time necessary for research and writing: English Department chairs James Ivory, Jim Fogelquist, and Carl Eby, and Arts and Sciences dean Tony Calamai. Two graduate seminars in literary theory at Appalachian were full of excellent students who engaged in rich conversations about reading and asked challenging questions about this project. I also received helpful responses from graduate students and faculty at the University of Trier. I presented an early version of the key ideas in this book at the Expressive Arts program at the European Graduate School. Thanks
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