In this workshop, our focus will be on the embodied nature of the printed book as a physical artefact. At the same time it will change the dominant focus on print reading within literary studies by addressing the audiobook as crucial contemporary literary medium.
In the first part of the workshop, we investigate what print literature can do thanks to its materiality and mediality; what we as readers do with literature that we encounter in such an ‘embodied’ form. We look at hands-on material some examples of contemporary multimodal literature that foregrounds the book´s materiality, as well as examples of real readers´ habits of ‘extending’ a printed book by adding bookmarks, notes, etc. in the process of reading.
In the second part, the notion of the book´s physical nature will be challenged - even the notion of 'reading' in itself. We do this by looking closer at - or rather listening closer to? - audiobooks as literary media. The particular affordances of print versus audiobooks will be mapped out by discussing their respective (un)intended purposes, their media-specific forms of usage and potentials to engage their readers. One of the main questions will be if and how we might find ways to ‘extend’ an audiobook similar to how we do it in case of printed books. Tackling this question will give another hands-on opportunity to ‘hack’ the book as a diverse medium within our digital age.
The workshop will take place 22 March 2022, 10:00 AM - 13:30 PM at the UiO Library.
Please sign up by 16 March through nettskjema
Organisers: Natalia Igl and Signe Marie Brandsæter