Books, Readers and Libraries in Fiction

Books and libraries appear in fiction from the earliest times onwards, in works for all age groups, in canonical literature, and in books that form part of popular culture. Fiction enables writers to teach readers how to read, but it can also portray subversive acts of reading that engage with contemporary cultural anxieties or moral debates. The reading material of fictional personae is part of their characterization; we are often reading readers.

Drawing on approaches from literary studies, book history, library history, and theories and histories of reading, Books, Readers and Libraries in Fiction examines what fictional representations of reading tell us about changing cultural attitudes to different reading practices, and the use (and abuse) of books beyond actual reading, both in the context of specific works and about the reception of books more widely. Through detailed case studies from primarily British fiction that address common themes such as gender, genre, and the relation between reading and writing itself, this collection catalogs the ways in which authors of fiction mediate and interpret books, libraries, and the act of reading to their own readers.