Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction 1
5. Part I Theory
6. 1. Reading and the Theory of Reading 9
7. 2. Poems, Myths, and the Advent of Modern Reading 44
8. Part II History
9. 3. Dante and the Invention of the Novel Reader 83
10. 4. Boccaccio, Cervantes, and the Path to Solitary Reading 141
11. 5. Magic and History: The Roots and Branches of Dr. Faustus 185
12. Part III Response
13. 6. Intransitive Parody and the Trap of Reading: What Reading Really Is 221
14. 7. Kleist, Kafka, and the Refutation of Reading 264
15. The Parting of the Ways: A Concluding Note on the Novel and Literary Studies 309
16. Notes 317
17. Index 339