Event Title
Every Reader a Nexus
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Location
Janet Ayers Academic Center 4094
Event Website
https://www.belmont.edu/liberal-arts/symposium/index.html
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
1-10-2021 12:00 PM
End Date
1-10-2021 12:50 PM
Description
In the famous essay “Why Read the Classics,” Italo Calvino defines “classics” as “the books that come down to us bearing...traces of readings previous to our [own]” but also acknowledges that each of us will have our own collection of works which form the “background noise” of our lives. I would argue that these are our own classics, many of which may be classics only for us, because each of us is the point where a unique selection of works intersect: each of us is a nexus. In this presentation, I will examine three different types of nexus we experience through reading, connecting not just those works to and through us but also ourselves with other readers. I will also reflect on the distinct nature of the connectivity experienced in reading as opposed to oral communication, due to the physicality we associate with written language, even in virtual environments.
Recommended Citation
Monteverde, Maggie, "Every Reader a Nexus" (2021). Humanities Symposium. 19.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2021/2021/19
Every Reader a Nexus
Janet Ayers Academic Center 4094
In the famous essay “Why Read the Classics,” Italo Calvino defines “classics” as “the books that come down to us bearing...traces of readings previous to our [own]” but also acknowledges that each of us will have our own collection of works which form the “background noise” of our lives. I would argue that these are our own classics, many of which may be classics only for us, because each of us is the point where a unique selection of works intersect: each of us is a nexus. In this presentation, I will examine three different types of nexus we experience through reading, connecting not just those works to and through us but also ourselves with other readers. I will also reflect on the distinct nature of the connectivity experienced in reading as opposed to oral communication, due to the physicality we associate with written language, even in virtual environments.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2021/2021/19
