Paul Saenger's book Space between Words makes the argument that silent reading is due to two independent medieval inventions: the space between words and lower case letters with their ascenders and descenders. Put these two things together and a lot of
words, especially common words, have shapes that are processed as individual units and indeed call on different processing units in the brain.
Being a proper medievalist, Saenger naturally claims that all the important stuff happened long before the Renaissance.
Dear Si-Sp Colleagues,
I have two questions of different sorts.
First, for a graduate course I'm teaching on the Petrarchan tradition, I'm curious what members feel are the best essays/chapters/excerptible pieces on FQ 3.
Second, does anyone know of hard evidence for the beginning of silent reading (or conversely the continuance of reading aloud)? Last year, I heard Gordon Campbell claim a very late date (17th c.?) for the beginning of silent reading, and I've heard other
claims made, but without substantiation. Is there an authoritative study? Specifically, would readers of Sidney and Spenser have read aloud, even privately?
Many thanks,
Hannibal
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Hannibal Hamlin
Associate Professor of English
Editor, Reformation
Co-curator, Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible