Making Books, Shaping Readers Summer School
On the Production, Dissemination, and Reception of Texts
University of Bielefeld,
August 27th – 31st 2007
This new interdisciplinary and non-period specific summer school provides an
opportunity for an in-depth exploration of the origins and development of the book as
a material object, and the various agents involved in its production, dissemination and
reception, from the manuscript culture in the medieval period through to the mass
consumerism of the printed book in the nineteenth century. The impact of digital
technology on the study of book history will also be explored. This course will offer
graduate students the opportunity to:






gain a broad historical understanding of the mutually informative relationship
between writing technologies and culture in western society
appreciate the collaborative nature of book production, dissemination and
reception, and thereby engage in a concrete way with theoretical notions of
the author and reader
partake in a variety of case studies of the material book from different periods
of history
consider how books are marketed and presented to readers
conduct original research in this subject through the student’s development of
a case study of their own chosen text as a material object
develop writing skills and a publishing profile by partaking in the
development of a glossary of terms and the production of an annotated
bibliography
Course Syllabus (Provisional)
Note: Course Booklet will be made available prior to the commencement of the
Summer School
Day
One
(27th
Aug)
9.3011.00
Content
Instructors
Reading Material
Introduction to Book
History and Textual
Materiality
Collins, Griffin,
O’ Connell
Course Booklet: Darnton & Chartier
Sharp Webpage: http://www.sharpweb.org/
Handouts Supplied
11.30- Oral Culture and
Early Manuscript
1.00
Culture / Book as
Body & Memory
Collins, Griffin
Course Booklet: Walter Ong
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/relg/ong.html
Jan-Dirk Müller
Handouts Supplied;
2-3.30 Medieval Help desk
Making a Book
(film)
Making a Book
(pratical)
Collins, Griffin,
O’ Connell
Materials Supplied
Day
Two
(28th
Aug)
9.3011.00
Content
Instructors
Reading Material
MS Circulation:
Literary / Practical
MSS /Robin Hood
Griffin
Handouts Supplied
Robin Hood Webpages: http://www.boldoutlaw.com
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood
Collins
Course Booklet: Eisenstein
O’ Connell
Course Booklet: John Brewer
11.30- Manuscript to Print:
Authorship and
1.00
Materiality in Early
Modern England
2-3.30 18thc – 19thc
Publishers and
Authors
Day
Three
(29th
Aug)
9.3011.00
Content
Instructors
Reading Material
Authorship /
Authority (Barthes,
Foucault)
Collins, Griffin, O’
Connell
Barthes (http://evansexperientialism.freewebspace.com/barthes06.htm);
Foucault
http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/History/s_ad
ms/foucault.htm
Handouts Supplied
11.30- Case Study:
Celebrity Author
1.00
(Sterne Dodsley /
Murray; J. K.
Rowling)
2-3.30 Glossary of Terms
Griffin, O’ Connell
Collins, Griffin, O’
Connell
Materials Supplied
Day
Four
(30th
Aug)
9.3011.00
Instructors
Reading Material
Collins
Handouts Supplied
Griffin, O’ Connell
Handouts Supplied
Walter Scott Digital Archive:
http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/
Content
Textual Variants:
Principles of
Editing. Case
Study: John Donne
11.30- Case Study: Walter
Scott and Ivanhoe
1.00
Course Booklet: McGann
Bloomsbury
Webpage:http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/
2-3.30 Workshop
Day
Five
(31st
Aug)
9.3011.00
Content
Collins, Griffin, O’
Connell
Materials Supplied
Instructors
Reading Material
Materiality,
Modernism,
and William
Morris
11.30- McLuhan and
Hyperfiction
1.00
Griffin
Handouts Supplied
Collins
Course Booklet: McLuhan; see also
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/McLuha
Understanding_Media-I-1-7.html
2-3.30 Research
Discussion of
Student’s Case
Studies
Collins,
Griffin, O’
Connell
Student Materials