The Communion of the Book
Milton and the Humanist Revolution in Reading
Published on 15. November 2022
Book
Hardback
528 pages
978-0-2280-1469-0 (ISBN)
Description
The modern world was not created by the civilization of Renaissance Italy, the advent of the printing press, or the marriage restrictions imposed by the medieval church. Rather, it was widespread reading that brought about most of the cognitive, psychological, and social changes that we recognize as peculiarly modern.
David Williams combines book and communications history with readings of major works by Petrarch, Bruni, Valla, Reuchlin, Erasmus, Foxe, and Milton to argue that expanding literacy in the Renaissance was the impetus for modern civilization, turning a culture of arid logic and religious ceremonialism into a world of individual readers who discovered a new form of communion in the act of reading. It was not the theologians Luther and Calvin who first taught readers to become what they read, but the biblical philologist Erasmus, who encountered the divine presence on every page of the gospels. From this sacramental form of reading came other modes of humanist reading, particularly in law, history, and classics, leading to the birth of the nation-state. As literacy rates rose, readers of all backgrounds gained and embodied the distinctly modern values of liberty, free speech, toleration, individualism, self-determination, and democratic institutions. Communion and community were linked, performed in novel ways through revolutionary forms of reading.
In this conclusion to a quartet of books on media change, Williams makes a compelling case for readers and acts of reading as the true drivers of social, political, and cultural modernity - and for digital media as its looming nemesis.
David Williams combines book and communications history with readings of major works by Petrarch, Bruni, Valla, Reuchlin, Erasmus, Foxe, and Milton to argue that expanding literacy in the Renaissance was the impetus for modern civilization, turning a culture of arid logic and religious ceremonialism into a world of individual readers who discovered a new form of communion in the act of reading. It was not the theologians Luther and Calvin who first taught readers to become what they read, but the biblical philologist Erasmus, who encountered the divine presence on every page of the gospels. From this sacramental form of reading came other modes of humanist reading, particularly in law, history, and classics, leading to the birth of the nation-state. As literacy rates rose, readers of all backgrounds gained and embodied the distinctly modern values of liberty, free speech, toleration, individualism, self-determination, and democratic institutions. Communion and community were linked, performed in novel ways through revolutionary forms of reading.
In this conclusion to a quartet of books on media change, Williams makes a compelling case for readers and acts of reading as the true drivers of social, political, and cultural modernity - and for digital media as its looming nemesis.
Reviews / Votes
"Informed by an immense range of reading, Williams's work spans periods, countries, and disciplinary fields. His analysis is sharp, incisive, and refreshingly prone to moving in unexpected directions. The prose is assured and elegant, erudite without being pedantic, and enjoyably rewarding for the reader." Andrea Walkden, University of Toronto and author of Private Lives Made Public: The Invention of Biography in Early Modern England"I can't think of anything to compare this book to: it has so much original to say. The Communion of the Book illuminates Milton as a reader and a writer and the influence of humanism in seventeenth-century England. Williams's research is a monumental synthesis of scholarship in a wide variety of fields, assembled in an original narrative that provides fresh insights." Sabrina Alcorn Baron, University of Maryland and co-editor of The Politics of Information in Early Modern Europe
"This rich, complex, and remarkable book ... should be read, and read carefully, not only by classicists and medieval and Renaissance scholars but also by all who care about modern culture and the present post-reading, postmodern predicament. Essential." Choice
"[A]mbitous and expansive ... Williams's story is a reconsideration of the relation between Renaissance humanism and the Reformation. In his telling, the reading practices developed by humanist intellectuals had profound effects on religious reform, sparking a transition from a sacerdotal religious culture to a literate one - from sacramental to textual forms of participation... The central argument of The Communion of the Book is, indeed, well worth the journey." Modern Philology
"David Williams's massive final book in his four-volume history of media change addresses key shifts in print culture, literacy, reading habits, and ideologies of reading in early modern Europe... Relentlessly thorough in its sources and scholarship, Williams's work can only impress with its sheer scale and drive." Renaissance and Reformation
"David Williams's highly intriguing Milton and the Humanist Revolution in Reading ... is a deeply thought-provoking book, one whose erudite insights into Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes are of tremendous value for those who want to wrestle with Milton's final poems in their contemporary context and consider their enduring relevance to our present age and situation. ... A great accomplishment." The Year's Work in English Studies
"A timely and excellent contribution to the history of reading ... His study [also] places Milton within the humanist tradition of changing the way in which people read. His approach has resulted in fresh interpretations of some of Milton's most well-known texts." Letters in Canada
"A study of reading written for readers, Williams's The Communion of the Book offers an absorbing intervention into the history of modern consciousness along with the quiet suggestion that the antidote to our current moment of cultural crisis might be found in a more disciplined mode of reading than that inspired and promoted by the invention of digital technologies in our own time." Milton Quarterly
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
2 figures
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-2280-1469-0 (9780228014690)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2022
1st Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€129.99
Available for download
E-Book
11/2022
1st Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€129.99
Available for download
Person
David Williams is professor emeritus in the Department of English, Theatre, Film, and Media at the University of Manitoba and the author of Media, Memory, and the First World War and Milton's Leveller God.