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Zusatztext Over the last decade, conversation analysis has emerged as the most rigorous and systematic means of studying the things people say about books. Its full power is brought to bear on the speech of four British reading groups in this fascinating study, which should be read by everyone who has an interest in real readers – and is willing to wave farewell to that speculative sacred cow, the ‘reader’ known to stylistics and literary criticism. Informationen zum Autor David Peplow is at Sheffield Hallam University, UK Vorwort What do people talk about when they talk about books? Considers practices in several UK-based reading clubs, looking at the discourses produced and the benefits of bibliotherapy. Zusammenfassung Over the last two decades, reading groups have become increasingly popular in the UK and the USA. More and more people seem to be interested in sharing their reading experiences and hearing other readers discuss their views on books, whether this is online, through the mass media, or in face-to-face contexts. In light of this explosion in popularity of reading groups, this ethnographic study focuses on several reading groups based across a variety of settings: public libraries, public houses and in readers’ homes. A range of methods are used to investigate the practices of the individual readers and the groups, including participant observation, interviews, and audio-recordings of meetings.Reading groups are found to be highly ritualized and potentially competitive places in which matters of identity and taste are often at stake. The groups studied are conceptualized as communities of practice, and the literary interpretations and evaluations offered within each group are shown to be a product of shared norms established by this group. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction2. The Groups: Communities of Readers3. Reading Group Organisation: Reading Resources4. Reported Discourse in the Groups5. Mimetic Reading in the Groups6. ConclusionBibliographyIndex...
