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Today we present reading as a hobby for introverts: it is a calm activity for those who like to be quiet and listen to their thoughts. But it was not always so. Writing appeared about 5,000 years ago, but reading to oneself, to which we are accustomed, is a relatively new form of leisure.
For centuries literate Europeans read aloud exclusively. Both the ancient Greeks and medieval monks did this. But by the 17th century, the reading community in Europe had changed radically. The advent of new printing technologies and the growth of writing in different languages have helped bring into practice what we hold so dear today:
people have learned to perceive texts in silence and create whole worlds from words in their own heads.
There is surprisingly fierce debate among scholars about when European society shifted from reading aloud to reading to oneself. Some even claim that in antiquity they read in silence as often as aloud. But most researchers agree that there is one extremely important episode in the literature that clarifies a lot. In his Confessions, Blessed Augustine describes the habits of the Milanese Bishop Ambrose:
“When Ambrose read, his eyes ran over the pages, his heart tried to comprehend the essence, but his voice and language were silent. We often caught him doing this (anyone could enter him without a report), and he always read in this manner - in silence and nothing else."
According to some scholars, this fact surprised Augustine, because in the 5th century, reading to oneself had not yet become commonplace. Other researchers believe that the author rather demonstrates Ambrose's bad manners.
“When someone came to Ambrose, he continued to read to himself. It's like typing a text message when they are trying to talk to you, says D. Vance Smith, a Middle Ages specialist at Princeton. "Augustine marveled at the rudeness of the bishop, who silently looked at the book, instead of sharing knowledge and reading aloud for visitors."
“It used to be the custom to read aloud when there were people around you,” Smith says. "It's more common for us to read in silence, only for ourselves."
If in the Middle Ages, as in the era of antiquity, reading to oneself was rare or was considered rude, then over time society changed its views on this occupation.
Historian Robert Darnton writes that in the 1700s, reading in Europe was still a public activity.
They read in workshops, barns, taverns. It was almost always oral, but not necessarily instructive.
Already in the late 1800s, according to Marcel Proust's notes, private reading became the norm for wealthy, educated people who could afford to buy books and indulge in idle reflections in the bedroom.
Reading to oneself began to gain popularity when the literacy of the population increased and access to various types of print media appeared. Research shows that until the 1750s, a reader's home library usually consisted of the Bible, an astronomical calendar, and several prayer books that were read over and over again. But by the 1800s, people began to read more avidly, they bought newspapers and other periodicals, and by the end of the century they were drawn into reading children's literature and novels.
Some researchers are confident:
When reading ceased to be a social activity, we had what we call an inner world.
In The History of Reading (1996), Alberto Manguel writes:
“The reader is finally given the right to establish a close relationship with the book without hindrance. No more wasting time to say the words out loud. The text could exist in the head, be read quickly or slowly, completely or only half. People have the opportunity to slowly think about new ideas, read several books in parallel and draw analogies. The book itself, protected by the cover from others, has become a personal thing, the property of a person, his intimate knowledge, wherever it is read - in a public place or at home."
“Psychologically silent reading has made people freer because a person's interests have become his own business,” says linguist Paul Sanger in his 1997 book Gaps Between Words. "In the 9th century, the thoughts of the reading public were under total control; not a single hint of heresy would have gone unnoticed." As Sanger writes, individual reading taught us to question dogmas, it promoted the development of critical thinking, introspection, irony, political and religious pluralism.
This suspicious new fashion - reading to oneself - naturally had its critics. Skeptics thought this reading would breed idle dreamers. And even worse: it allows people to learn and reflect without religious control or censorship. And towards the end of the 19th century, when quiet reading became very popular, some expressed concern that dangerous erotic thoughts might arise in women reading in bed.
Historians still disagree on why we started reading in silence. Sanger suggests that the visual restructuring of the text played an important role. Once upon a time, Latin words were written together, so they were difficult to perceive. Sanger claims that in the 7th century, Irish monks who translated from Latin added spaces between words to make the language easier to understand. The scientist is sure that this is what allowed people to read to themselves.
In The Pause and Its Consequences: Western Punctuation (1992), MB Parks says something similar. He writes that visual changes, such as punctuation and spaces, have improved the perception of texts and influenced the way we read. The innovation itself appeared because the scribes did not know who would have the text and how well the reader would be fluent in Latin. And they found a simple way to show you how to read: you need to pause here, these are two separate words.
This technique spread throughout Europe, where Latin was actively used. In other major cultures of the world (for example, China), where no spaces were made between words and the perception of the text largely depended on recitation, reading developed differently.
The main historical evidence allows us to conclude that reading to oneself is a conquest of the Renaissance, when individuality became one of the main values of European culture. But, perhaps, everything is explained by the usual human need for personal space, the need to have your own secret world.
We just needed a little help to get what we want.
For centuries literate Europeans read aloud exclusively. Both the ancient Greeks and medieval monks did this. But by the 17th century, the reading community in Europe had changed radically. The advent of new printing technologies and the growth of writing in different languages have helped bring into practice what we hold so dear today:
people have learned to perceive texts in silence and create whole worlds from words in their own heads.
There is surprisingly fierce debate among scholars about when European society shifted from reading aloud to reading to oneself. Some even claim that in antiquity they read in silence as often as aloud. But most researchers agree that there is one extremely important episode in the literature that clarifies a lot. In his Confessions, Blessed Augustine describes the habits of the Milanese Bishop Ambrose:
“When Ambrose read, his eyes ran over the pages, his heart tried to comprehend the essence, but his voice and language were silent. We often caught him doing this (anyone could enter him without a report), and he always read in this manner - in silence and nothing else."
According to some scholars, this fact surprised Augustine, because in the 5th century, reading to oneself had not yet become commonplace. Other researchers believe that the author rather demonstrates Ambrose's bad manners.
“When someone came to Ambrose, he continued to read to himself. It's like typing a text message when they are trying to talk to you, says D. Vance Smith, a Middle Ages specialist at Princeton. "Augustine marveled at the rudeness of the bishop, who silently looked at the book, instead of sharing knowledge and reading aloud for visitors."
“It used to be the custom to read aloud when there were people around you,” Smith says. "It's more common for us to read in silence, only for ourselves."
If in the Middle Ages, as in the era of antiquity, reading to oneself was rare or was considered rude, then over time society changed its views on this occupation.
Historian Robert Darnton writes that in the 1700s, reading in Europe was still a public activity.
They read in workshops, barns, taverns. It was almost always oral, but not necessarily instructive.
Already in the late 1800s, according to Marcel Proust's notes, private reading became the norm for wealthy, educated people who could afford to buy books and indulge in idle reflections in the bedroom.
Reading to oneself began to gain popularity when the literacy of the population increased and access to various types of print media appeared. Research shows that until the 1750s, a reader's home library usually consisted of the Bible, an astronomical calendar, and several prayer books that were read over and over again. But by the 1800s, people began to read more avidly, they bought newspapers and other periodicals, and by the end of the century they were drawn into reading children's literature and novels.
Some researchers are confident:
When reading ceased to be a social activity, we had what we call an inner world.
In The History of Reading (1996), Alberto Manguel writes:
“The reader is finally given the right to establish a close relationship with the book without hindrance. No more wasting time to say the words out loud. The text could exist in the head, be read quickly or slowly, completely or only half. People have the opportunity to slowly think about new ideas, read several books in parallel and draw analogies. The book itself, protected by the cover from others, has become a personal thing, the property of a person, his intimate knowledge, wherever it is read - in a public place or at home."
“Psychologically silent reading has made people freer because a person's interests have become his own business,” says linguist Paul Sanger in his 1997 book Gaps Between Words. "In the 9th century, the thoughts of the reading public were under total control; not a single hint of heresy would have gone unnoticed." As Sanger writes, individual reading taught us to question dogmas, it promoted the development of critical thinking, introspection, irony, political and religious pluralism.
This suspicious new fashion - reading to oneself - naturally had its critics. Skeptics thought this reading would breed idle dreamers. And even worse: it allows people to learn and reflect without religious control or censorship. And towards the end of the 19th century, when quiet reading became very popular, some expressed concern that dangerous erotic thoughts might arise in women reading in bed.
Historians still disagree on why we started reading in silence. Sanger suggests that the visual restructuring of the text played an important role. Once upon a time, Latin words were written together, so they were difficult to perceive. Sanger claims that in the 7th century, Irish monks who translated from Latin added spaces between words to make the language easier to understand. The scientist is sure that this is what allowed people to read to themselves.
In The Pause and Its Consequences: Western Punctuation (1992), MB Parks says something similar. He writes that visual changes, such as punctuation and spaces, have improved the perception of texts and influenced the way we read. The innovation itself appeared because the scribes did not know who would have the text and how well the reader would be fluent in Latin. And they found a simple way to show you how to read: you need to pause here, these are two separate words.
This technique spread throughout Europe, where Latin was actively used. In other major cultures of the world (for example, China), where no spaces were made between words and the perception of the text largely depended on recitation, reading developed differently.
The main historical evidence allows us to conclude that reading to oneself is a conquest of the Renaissance, when individuality became one of the main values of European culture. But, perhaps, everything is explained by the usual human need for personal space, the need to have your own secret world.
We just needed a little help to get what we want.
