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Article #5398Re: "invention" of silent reading (McLuhan)
From: bookburn
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 22:41
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 22:41
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"John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne@attglobal.net> wrote in message news:bg0Gb.381926$655.82315215@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net... > Henry Hanna wrote: > > A long time ago I read a book by McLuhan stating > > that silent reading was invented in the middle ages. > > > Was this such a difficult thing that needed to be > > "invented"? > > St. Augustine, one of the most brilliant and well educated men of his > time (late 4th, early 5th centuries), remarks in awe about the ability > of St. Ambrose to read silently, and spends some time trying to explain > why he thinks Ambrose might have done such an extraordinary thing. > > -- > John W. Kennedy Instead of "invented" I suppose reading silently was an easily learned behavior. One step leading to accomplishment would have been reading lists of figures/accounts on clay tablets, like they had in Sumaria. Another would have been reading pictographs whose idea is represented, not an element of spoken language. And then there was reading by candle light at night when you're supposed to be asleep. bookburn
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 105f96,102ef6035d969ce6 X-Google-Attributes: gid105f96,public X-Google-Thread: 113168,102ef6035d969ce6 X-Google-Attributes: gid113168,public X-Google-Thread: 10a20a,102ef6035d969ce6 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a20a,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-12-23 14:41:20 PST Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!crtntx1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!elnk-pas-nf1!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!sjc70.webusenet.com!news.webusenet.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: "bookburn" <bookburn@yahoo.com> Newsgroups: sci.lang,humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare,rec.arts.books Subject: Re: "invention" of silent reading (McLuhan) Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 13:41:20 -0900 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <vuhh4eqg115q99@corp.supernews.com> References: <20031223183604.97721.qmail@web60108.mail.yahoo.com> <bg0Gb.381926$655.82315215@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4922.1500 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4925.2800 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 30