Content (Syllabus outline)

This course presents the history of books—in particular, the ways in which various cultures from Antiquity to the present have created, disseminated, transmitted, and received texts. The overview includes various material, cultural, and theoretical carriers, aspects, and forms of books, including manuscripts, printed books, and digital books. The presentation of each historical period includes an outline of the social, economic, and cultural conditions that determined the book form and content. In addition, the main elements of book culture are analyzed for each period; for example, the author’s, editor’s, publisher’s, and printer’s position, the methods of publishing and selling books, library types, the canonization process, literacy scope, the reading public’s horizon, and so on. Special attention is dedicated to various forms of book censorship up to the beginning of the twenty-first century, including book burning, forbidden book indexes, and self-censorship.

Readings

• Chartier, Roger. Red knjig: bralci, avtorji in knjižnice v Evropi med 14. in 18. stoletjem. Prev. Saša Jerele. Sprem. beseda Maja Breznik. Ljubljana: Sophia, 2011.
• Darnton, Robert: The Literary Underground of the Old Regime. Cambridge, London: Harvard UP, 1982.
• Dolgan, Marjan, Jerneja Fridl in Manca Volk. Literarni atlas Ljubljane. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2014.
• Dović, Marijan, ur. Literatura in cenzura: Kdo se boji resnice literature? / Literature and Censorship: Who is afraid of the Truth of Literature? = Primerjalna književnost 31 (2008).
• Dović, Marijan, Jernej Habjan, Marko Juvan, ur. The Book and the Economy of Cultural Spaces. Primerjalna književnost1 (2012).
• Howard, Nicole. The Book. The Life Story of a Technology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 2009.
• Juvan, Marko. Kulturni obtok in knjiga: književnost, vednost, prostor in ekonomija (uvodni zaris) = Cultural circulation and the book: literature, knowledge, space, and economy (an introduction). Primerjalna književnost 1 (2012): 11–35.
• Lærke, Mogens, ur. The Use of Censorship in the Enlightenment. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2009.
• Pettegree, Andrew: The Book in the Renaissance. New Haven, London: Yale UP, 2011.
• Vidmar, Luka. Prepovedane knjige na Kranjskem od indeksa Pavla IV. (1559) do indeksa Pija VI. (1786). Svetovne književnosti in obrobja. Ur. Marko Juvan. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC (Studia litteraria), 2012. 233−262.

Objectives and competences

Students are acquainted with the importance of books and their knowledge transfer, and ultimately the importance of blocking this knowledge in various periods and history in general. They master the basic Slovenian and international literature on this topic and the main methodological procedures for studying it.

Intended learning outcomes

Students use the knowledge acquired in the course to write a piece of academic writing that can serve as a draft of a dissertation chapter or a research article.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts
• Case studies

Assessment

• Long written assignment (70 %),
• presentation (20 %),
• active participation in lectures and seminars (10 %).