Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Allington, Daniel
(2010).
Abstract
From the editor's introduction: 'the reading historian needs some kind of tangible record to use as a starting point – and most often this record takes the form of a reading anecdote.... Reading historians, Allington argues, should focus less on the veracity of reading anecdotes and more on their structuring tropes and themes; doing so, he suggests, will enhance their evidentiary function by moving scholarly debates past questions of reliability and legitimacy and will, finally, generate richer histories of reading.� (pp. 3-4)
The chapter's main example is James Hogg's account of his first encounter with the work of Robert Burns, but I also re-examine some of the evidence used in Jonathan Rose's influential monograph, The intellectual life of the British working classes (Yale UP, 2001).
Viewing alternatives
- Request a copy from the author This file is not available for public download