The classic image of a reader is someone alone with their eyes on a book, ignoring the world around them. But Janice Radway argues that the communities we’re in can shape what we read and how we read. Reading is not something that only takes place in our individual minds, but an activity that influences and is influenced by our social world. From prison reading groups to caregivers who read to get a break from their domestic duties, people read with agendas and desires they share with others in similar situations.
Works mentioned
– How To Read episode with Usha Iyer on dancing stars in Indian cinema
– Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Further reading
Talk on girl zines by Janice Radway at the National Humanities Center
Amalia Beckner at Texas Observer – Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail
Gal Beckerman at The New York Times – This Is No Time to Read Alone
Helen Taylor at Literary Hub – The Unexpectedly Subversive World of Romance Novels
Interview at NPR with historian and novelist Alison Weir on Writing The Well-Researched Bodice-Ripper
Lauren Michele Jackson at Vulture – What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?
Jill Rothstein at New York Public Library – Trans, Nonbinary and GNC Voices to Help you Celebrate Pride
Caleb Crain at The New Yorker – Why We Don’t Read, Revisited
Kiera Vaclavik at The Conversation – How reading aloud can be an act of seduction
Josh Guilar at Medium – Why reading is a social activity