The Digital Reading Condition. Maria Engberg, Iben Have and Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen (eds)

Abstract

In the current media landscape, digital reading is rapidly and profoundly changing our reading habits and reading experiences, which prompts us to rethink ‘how to understand and define reading as a mediated practice’ (Pedersen et al., 2021, p. 282). Belonging to a series of Routledge Research in Digital Humanities, this insightful volume The Digital Reading, edited by Maria Engberg, Iben Have, and Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen, seeks to explore different forms of digital reading and their reading conditions, the analytical perspectives or approaches available in expanding the academic research, and the impact brought about by digital interfaces and technologies on the current reading conditions. This volume consists of an introduction and nineteen chapters, which are divided into five sections: (1) historical and sociocultural perspectives on reading (Chapters 1–4); (2) multisensory reading (Chapters 5–9); (3) reading engagement: aspects of digital reading (Chapters 10–12); (4) young readers between media (Chapters 13–16); and (5) aesthetics and digital reading (Chapters 17–19). In the introduction, the editors pinpoint the necessity of studying the changing reading conditions and reading practices, propose the theoretical and methodological framework, and outline the contents of the volume.