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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies
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Readers' Liberation - The Literary Agenda (Paperback)
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Readers' Liberation - The Literary Agenda (Paperback)
Series: The Literary Agenda
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The Literary Agenda is a series of short polemical monographs about
the importance of literature and of reading in the wider world and
about the state of literary education inside schools and
universities. The category of 'the literary' has always been
contentious. What is clear, however, is how increasingly it is
dismissed or is unrecognised as a way of thinking or an arena for
thought. It is sceptically challenged from within, for example, by
the sometimes rival claims of cultural history, contextualized
explanation, or media studies. It is shaken from without by even
greater pressures: by economic exigency and the severe social
attitudes that can follow from it; by technological change that may
leave the traditional forms of serious human communication looking
merely antiquated. For just these reasons this is the right time
for renewal, to start reinvigorated work into the meaning and value
of literary reading. For the Internet and digitial generation, the
most basic human right is the freedom to read. The Web has indeed
brought about a rapid and far-reaching revolution in reading,
making a limitless global pool of literature and information
available to anyone with a computer. At the same time, however, the
threats of censorship, surveillance, and mass manipulation through
the media have grown apace. Some of the most important political
battles of the twenty-first century have been fought-and will be
fought-over the right to read. Will it be adequately protected by
constitutional guarantees and freedom of information laws? Or will
it be restricted by very wealthy individuals and very powerful
institutions? And given increasingly sophisticated methods of
publicity and propaganda, how much of what we read can we believe?
This book surveys the history of independent sceptical reading,
from antiquity to the present. It tells the stories of heroic
efforts at self-education by disadvantaged people in all parts of
the world. It analyzes successful reading promotion campaigns
throughout history (concluding with Oprah Winfrey) and explains why
they succeeded. It also explores some disturbing current trends,
such as the reported decay of attentive reading, the disappearance
of investigative journalism, 'fake news', the growth of censorship,
and the pervasive influence of advertisers and publicists on the
media-even on scientific publishing. For anyone who uses libraries
and Internet to find out what the hell is going on, this book is a
guide, an inspiration, and a warning.
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