Reading for Efficiency in Ancient Rome: The Case of Pliny the Elder

IF 0.1 0 HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History Pub Date : 2023-07-01 DOI:10.5325/reception.15.1.0015

W. Johnson

引用次数: 0

Abstract

abstract:Readers in ancient Rome did not have efficiency of reading as a goal. The much-cited exception that proves the rule is a letter of the Younger Pliny (Letter 3.5, early 2nd c. CE) that describes the extraordinary reading habits of his uncle the Elder Pliny, as he read and digested the 2000 works used as sources for constructing his encyclopedic Natural History. Famously, the Elder, as he rode in his carriage or litter, would have a lector read to him and a stenographer take notes. This article examines in detail how an ancient reader would imagine such a scene. The aims of the article are two: (1) to shine further light on the enslaved persons enabling Pliny's project; (2) to elucidate how and why an ancient reader would see (as modern commentators have not) the comical impracticalities behind the Elder's extreme "efficient" reading behavior.

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古罗马的效率阅读:老普林尼的案例

古罗马的读书人并没有以阅读效率为目标。被广泛引用的证明这一规则的例外是小普林尼的一封信(公元2世纪早期的3.5封信)，信中描述了他的叔叔老普林尼非凡的阅读习惯，他阅读并消化了2000部作品，这些作品被用作构建百科全书式的《自然历史》的来源。众所周知，当长老坐在他的马车或轿子里时，他会让一名牧师给他朗读，一名速记员做笔记。这篇文章详细探讨了古代读者是如何想象这样一个场景的。这篇文章的目的有两个:(1)进一步阐明那些使普林尼的计划得以实现的奴隶;(2)阐明古代读者如何以及为什么会看到(现代评论家没有看到)长老极端“高效”阅读行为背后的滑稽不切实际。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Reception-Texts Readers Audiences History HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

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0.10

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期刊介绍： Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal published once a year. It seeks to promote dialog and discussion among scholars engaged in theoretical and practical analyses in several related fields: reader-response criticism and pedagogy, reception study, history of reading and the book, audience and communication studies, institutional studies and histories, as well as interpretive strategies related to feminism, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and postcolonial studies, focusing mainly but not exclusively on the literature, culture, and media of England and the United States.