ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: READING BEYOND THE PAGE: CONTEXTUALIZING READING WITHIN THE LIVES OF AVID READERS Jennifer Anne Nolan-Stinson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Dissertation Directed by: Professor John L. Caughey, Department of American Studies My dissertation seeks to add to our understanding of reading as a social and cultural practice by examining the roles that reading plays within the everyday lives of four avid readers. The recent proliferation of national reading studies in the English-speaking world indicates a current international preoccupation with reading, but neither these studies nor most previous academic scholarship on reading have taken actual, individual readers into account. Through employing a self-reflexive ethnographic life history approach that includes a series of interviews with each reader and an analysis of how the readers arrange their reading materials in their homes, my work contextualizes how readers use reading and make it meaningful. I argue that new questions and emphases emerge once we center studies of reading within the lives and words of actual readers. For example, my focus on these readers’ daily reading practices reveals problems inherent in privileging book and literary reading and points to the need to include a broader variety of genres and a wider array of formats, such as periodicals and online reading, if we wish to understand how reading is used in everyday life. Looking at each reader’s life history also emphasizes the need for considerations of the influences of space and time on reading, both at home and while traveling, as well as the material aspects of the reading experience. Furthermore, when we pay attention to the complex negotiations each reader makes between her/his reading interests, social locations, and cultural traditions, it becomes clear that generalizations about groups of readers suppress individual relationships that readers have with their cultural and social influences and therefore how each of these interact with reading. What my dissertation makes most clear is that we must begin to expand our notion of reading beyond the page and into the lives of individual readers if we wish to understand it as a cultural practice. READING BEYOND THE PAGE: CONTEXTUALIZING READING WITHIN THE LIVES OF AVID READERS by Jennifer Anne Nolan-Stinson Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Advisory Committee: Professor John L. Caughey, Chair Professor R. Gordon Kelly Professor Myron Lounsbury Professor Brian Richardson Professor Nancy L. Struna © COPYRIGHT BY JENNIFER ANNE NOLAN -STINSON 2008 DEDICATION TO MADELYN JIM ADAM & CHRISTINE WITHOUT WHOM WE WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO READ AND TO MY GRANDMOTHER PEGGY H. NOLAN WITHOUT WHOM I WOULD NOT BE A READER ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. First I must thank the fellow avid readers who allowed me into their homes and lives. I am honored that they each would willingly carve time out of their busy schedules to talk to me about their reading practices and I learned much about reading and myself through my work with them. I must also acknowledge the support of my academic home in the American Studies department at the University of Maryland. Both John Caughey and Nancy Struna have played essential roles throughout my graduate career. John has been an invaluable advisor and mentor, providing unwavering support and encouraging me with his thoughtful considerations of my ideas about reading from our first class together through the completion of this dissertation. Time and time again Nancy has been a steadfast ally for me and my work in variety of ways, including approving departmental support that resulted in a Goldhaber travel grant for my presentation at an international conference on reading in England. I cannot thank either of them enough for everything they have done. I would also like to thank the additional members of my committee Brian Richardson, R. Gordon Kelly, and Myron Lounsbury. From the moment I arrived at Maryland, Valerie Brown has made me feel at home and helped me in countless ways. My dissertation support group, comprising Ruth Bergman, Marcia Simoes, and especially Krista Park and Elizabeth Hagovsky, also provided essential camaraderie and encouragement, particularly as I began my dissertation research. I would not be where I am today without the guidance of two of my undergraduate professors in the English department at the University of Texas at Austin, iii Joseph Kruppa and Alan Friedman. As the first professor to challenge me to achieve a higher level of thinking and writing both through class and as my undergraduate thesis advisor, Alan Friedman plays a particularly important role in my academic development, the results of which continue to this day. I must also thank my mother, father, and stepmother for fostering a love of reading and learning within me that has sustained me throughout graduate school. Particular thanks go to my grandmother, Peggy H. Nolan, to whom this dissertation is dedicated for her tireless interest and support at every stage in the process. My brothers, Andrew, Christopher, and Michael also deserve special note here for their love and encouragement. An additional friend also deserves particular mention here. Nancy Woolley, one of my best friends and a former roommate, was one of the first readers I worked with on my initial project on this topic for my life history course. Her willingness to let me bounce ideas off of her and her insightful comments helped me through the fog at many moments throughout this dissertation process and I am blessed to have such a wonderful friend. Thanks also go to Betsy Cearnal for her support and attendance at my defense. Last, but by no means least, I must thank my husband, best friend, editor, (and chef!) Timothy Stinson. I am grateful for the many people who have supported me throughout this process, but none more so than Tim, who has been there through all of the highs and lows, all of the accomplishments and setbacks, and without whom none of this would be possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 WHAT IS READING ?.......................................................................................................... 3 ACADEMIC CONSIDERATIONS OF READERS AND READING : ................................................ 8 Part 1: Reader-Response Criticism ........................................................................... 8 Part 2: Identifying the Academic Reader ................................................................. 11 Part 3: Studying the Actual Reader ......................................................................... 12 TOWARDS A LIFE HISTORY OF AVID READERS .................................................................. 24 RESEARCHING 4 READERS READING : A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ........................................ 28 THE FIFTH READER ........................................................................................................ 34 CHAPTER ONE : MADELYN .............................................................................................. 43 CHAPTER TWO : JIM ........................................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER THREE : ADAM .............................................................................................. 114 CHAPTER FOUR : CHRISTINE ......................................................................................... 146 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 177 APPENDIX A................................................................................................................... 195 APPENDIX B: READER BIBLIOGRAPHIES ...................................................................... 196 ADAM .......................................................................................................................... 196 MADELYN .................................................................................................................... 197 JIM .............................................................................................................................. 198 CHRISTINE ................................................................................................................... 200 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 203 v LIST OF FIGURES JIM FIGURE 2.1: BREAKFAST ROOM READING ........................................................................ 79 FIGURE 2.2: LIVING ROOM READING CHAIR ..................................................................... 79 FIGURE 2.3: NIGHTSTAND