Public Reading and the Reading Public in Late Medieval England and France (review)

Abstract

192 Reviews Parliament ofFowls (note 62). A reference in note 67 to 'Boffey 1996' refers to the undated Huntington Library Quarterly article under her name in the Bibliography, which is otherwise full and valuable. Janet Hadley Williams Department of English The Australian National University Coleman, Joyce, Public Reading and the Reading Public in Late Medieval England and France (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 26) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996; cloth, pp. xiv, 250; 12 b / w illustrations; R.R.P. £45.00. Theories of literacy and orality have tended to assume that with rising literacy during the medieval period, orality declined. Joyce Coleman's original and challenging study criticises such a simplistic division between literacy and orality, arguing that the extent of public reading during the late medieval period has been underestimated. Her thorough and detailed research demonstrates that people preferred hearing books read aloud in groups as a social activity, even w h e n they were evidently capable of private reading as well. Coleman's work begins with a critique of the dominant models of literacy and orality. In particular she examines Walter Ong's highly influential Literacy and Orality, a work which has largely shaped assumptions about public and private reading during the middle ages. Coleman raises doubts about the neat, unilinear progression from orality to literacy that theorists have generally adopted. Instead, she argues for a m u c h more complex 'ethnographic' methodology which can better demonstrate the diverse experiences of late medieval readers. Reviews 193 Coleman develops such a methodology in the second chapter. In order to avoid the mentality of a neat division of orality and literacy, she feels, n e w terminology is needed. This is a difficult chapter but once you become accustomed to such terms as 'exophoric' and 'endophoric' mentalities and literacies, it is clear how they help allow for greater precision and flexibility to describe late medieval reading practices. In contrast to the dominant model of a shift from orality to literacy, Coleman suggests that orality and aurality, in the form of public reading of texts, and literacy, as private reading, coexisted amongst those w h o were capable of both; that is, the wealthy upper-classes. W e should therefore dispel the notion that, as literacy developed, only the less wealthy and illiterate continued to be exposed to literature through such aural means as hearing works read aloud. The second half of Coleman's work is m u c h easier and more enjoyable reading, demonstrating the application of her theory. She examines the reading experiences at the courts of France, Burgundy, England and Scotland, analysing contemporary reports that show evidence for the continuation of aural practices in readers w h o could have chosen private reading. Coleman argues convincingly that public reading was a popular social activity and remained so even after literacy was widespread at court. Finally, Coleman also applies her theory to court literature across the medieval period from 1350 to 1500, with a particular focus on Chaucer. She cites evidence from Chaucer's texts which suggests that he wrote primarily for aural reception, directing his works at listeners rather than private readers. Through this example of a complex and creative text, Coleman seeks to dispel the myth that literacy in itself is more flexible and encouraging of authorial creativity, compared to texts written with aural reading in mind. Coleman's is one of the first works to destabilise the notion 194 Reviews of a linear progression from orality to literacy during the medieval period. Furthermore, she rejects the perception that private reading practices of the era were more progressive and nurturing of authorial creativity than public reading practices. This is an important and interesting book which deserves scholarly attention and should change the w a y w e think about reading in the past. Susan Broomhall School of European Languages The University of Western Australia Derbes, Anne, Picturing the Passion in Late Medieval Italy: Narr Painting, Franciscan Ideologies and the Levant, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996; paper; pp. xvi, 270; 96 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. AUS$36.95. Almost a decade ago now, three major books appeared, all probing accounts of various...