Paraliterary: The Making of Bad Readers in Postwar America

by Merve Emre

Book Overview

Literature departments are staffed by, and tend to be focused on turning out, "good" readers--attentive to nuance, aware of history, interested in literary texts as self-contained works. But the vast majority of readers are, to use Merve Emre's tongue-in-cheek term, "bad" readers. They read fiction and poetry to be moved, distracted, instructed, improved, engaged as citizens. How should we think about those readers, and what should we make of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 022647397X
• ISBN13: 9780226473970
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"