Okuyan Bir Toplum Olmak - How Reading Made Us Modern

Prof. John Mullan - sunucu
Britanya'nın okumaya nasıl başladığı, nasıl yaygınlaştığı ve bugünkü örnek konuma geldiği tarihi perspektifle anlatılıyor.

The revolution that made us a nation of readers.

Bir yüzyılda İncil dışında bir şey okuyanlara kötü gözle bakılan bir halktan,  okuyan bir topluma dönüştük. 18. Yüzyıl’da gerçekleşti bu gelişme. Bir kanunla tüm basılı eserler serbest kaldı ve hızla arttı.  

In 18th century, everything about books changed in England. Reading became common among all people. In 17th century, there wasn’t much reading (news spread via word of mouth and not much people knew reading).The reason? Because you needed a licence for a printing press which were very few.

Before 18th century, you had to present everything you want to publish, to the King’s licencer. Anything he or his apparatchiks didn’t like, wouldn’t make it into print.

If you publish an unlicensed material, you could be hanged, or made stand in the pillory for your published material. Therefore, most read only Bible. It was controlling the imagination not exciting it. It was supposed to improve, not to please you
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1681’de political satirist was hung, drawn and quartered for writing a pamphlet mocking Charles the second as a closet Roman catholic.  Publisher para cezası ve stand in the pillory ile kurtulmuş.  Strict control.

Quartering

A gruesome form of torture and, eventually, death by execution.

Origin: This grisly phrase is the colloquial name for the death sentence which is more properly called hanged, drawn and quartered. This describes a form of execution used in England from the 13th century (end of Norman conquest ?) until 1790 (French revolution ?). The sentence was given to others after that date but not carried out. Hanged, drawn and quartered was the punishment for men who committed treason, i.e. the violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state. Women traitors were burned at the stake. The punishment was most often meted out for high treason - acts of betrayal, or actual or attempted murder of the sovereign (regicide).

Protestanlar okumayı Tanrıya yaklaşmak amacıyla yapıyor sadece. Reading was about controlling the imagination, not enhancing it.

Pilgrim’s Progress, first book which is although on religion, includes allegorical stories. 1678. Hala dünyanın en çok okunan kitaplarından ve hala basılıyor.

Cultural change often comes from political upheaval and the transformation of our reading habit was no exception. 

1688 – The last ever roman catholic King (James 2nd) was abolished with a glorious revolution. William of Orange (William the Silent) takes the crown. Monarchy was abolished too. Parliament has been established. Constitution was adjusted. Bill of rights which gave new rights to the society, was accepted. In 1695, lapsed the licensing act. Limited the power of monarchy. This was the spark that ignited the revolution of reading. Under King William, printing material no longer required royal ascent. Before the lapse of the licensing act, there were only 20 printers allowed in England. Now anyone could set up a press. But publishing could still be a risky business. Poor didn’t read those times, as well.

Inessentials – zaruri olmayan ihtiyaçlardan sayılıyor.

Still book selling was a very dangerous act. Hand could be cut, pilloried or hanged.

1702 – First edition of Daily Courant (still published) was published. It was a single sheet with 2 covers. No comments were added. In a decade, the number of daily newspapers were than 20 in London. A nation of news junkies was born. O zamanlar da şimdiki gibi her gazetenin bir political bias’ı vardı. Whigs and Tories. Dış haberler, crime reports ve human interest stories de var içlerinde. Thus the British newspaper industry was born in the beginning of the 18th century. Our appetite for public gossip debate was cultivated back then. This resulted in a development of discussion envrionment. Herkes politik oldu. In local coffee houses, people start to debate their ideas on the latest news on pamphlets. Çok modaydı bu tartışmalarda yer almak. Spectator meşhur bir gazete bu dönemde. Londra’nın 1/10’u okuyor. İçinde advises on how to have civilised conversation and provide educated topical talking points. Her konuda tavsiyeler veriyor. Those times, coffee houses were populated by men. There was a coffehouse on every London street corner. Reading was beginning to be seen as fashionable. Becoming urbane citizens. Zamanın burjuvazisi için az da olsa kitap koleksiyonuna sahip olmak statüs sembolüydü.

In 1800s, virtually all the villages have a bookbinder. First people by books with uncut paper edges and a traditional drab blue boards (cover) Then you take it to your bookbinder and ask it to be bind in calf skin, want to make it red, or make it goat skin. People personalize their books.

100 steps in bookbinding. Nothing changed currently. Aynı yöntemler. Gold is still 23,5-24 carat. Some hand tools are the same as those used back in 1750s. The appearance of books were associated with its owner’s knowledge and status. Very expensive service tough. Süslü bir bible cildi 4 guinea sayfaları 4 guinea ciltlenmesi tutuyor.

Bizim kalaycılar gibi adamların bookbinder’ları evleri dolaşır, insanların kitaplarının cildini süslermiş. İsmini yazabiliyor mesela. Altın tezhip ya da.

People started to have portraits of their own with books, particularly open books, to look intelligent. Reading was a very modern thing. Bugünkü cep telefonları gibi yahu.

Those who could afford books, displayed them like trophies. 

Bibliophiles emerging 

Assembling a library was a way of showing off his talents for rich men.

People read out to each other these days. In company of children or friends. Sesli okuma yaygın bir ordinary entertainment ya da aktivite.

“Stories were listened before they were read back then.” Andrew Miller

William Beckford – He was a playboy, and eccentric, very rich man. Member of parliament.  Built an ivory tower, to house his thousands of books, where he could see high above the people, reading and dreaming. Öldüğünde 11.000 kitap bırakmış.

Today, there are literary night clubs in London which host reading books aloud in front of other people. Its kind of a special performance event nowadays unlike the 18th century. In the 19th century, people read loud out long novels to each other (Bana TV series kültürünün başlangıcı gibi geldi).

The Gentlemen’s Magazine, World’s first magazine.

Samuel Johnson – Wrote a dictionary (1755) “Johnson’s Dictionary”, it was used and very famous until the Oxford Dictionary came. It had etymology, definition and then quotations from English writers. He was called “Dictionary Johnson”

For him reading was the very foundation of civilised life. 1837’de kitap işine ilgisi nedeniyle 150 mil yürüyerek Londra’ya gitti. Gentlemans’s magasine’de yazı yazmaya başladı. 1745’de sözlüğü yazmaya başladı. Babası da kitap satarmış. Böylece küçüklüğünden çok kitap okuyabilme fırsatı olmuş. Ençok King James Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope. Meanings illustrated by quotations.

British Library receives a copy of every book and magazine published in UK and Ireland.

Each year Britain spends 3.5 billion pounds on books.

115 million items requiring 400 miles of shelving

There is a glass tower having 65.000 books dating back to 18th century. The King’s Library. He was keen on binding and had a in-house bindery. George the 3rd. (came to throne in 1760)

17th century, enlightenment century in the history of Western society.

This library was open to bone fide students. George public library olarak kullanıma açmış.  Karşıtları da yararlanabiliyormuş. John Adams, the first American minister gelmiş. Privy purse –

The revolution of reading was in full swing but among the lower classes it was regarded as unnecessary leisure which is reserved only for leisure classes. The traditional view was that the lesiure pursuits were suitable only for the leisured classes. Ayrıca çok pahalı. Üstelik bir de ışık sıkıntısı var.

No one wanted those below stairs to get the ideas to step up the stairs (upstairs-downstairs dizisini hatorlatıyor hemen).1696’da King William, window taxing was an innovative way of taxing everyone. The more windows you had, the more tax you paid. It had an massive effect on our architecture and domestic affairs. Thus, even light became a luxury.

Public reader was the news anchorman of the day. This activity saved lower class from being bookless. Inns and taverns  had a lot of people flocking from everywhere to hear the reading of a book or newspaper.

In the 18th century, for lower class, schooling was only an option with the advent of charity or Blue coat schools. Christ Hospital in Sussex (pics) – oldest charity school in Britain still fulfilling its function. 18th century was the time when charity schools gained pace. They were founded in the 16th century. Mostly religious. They were founded to provide moral guidance to the poor.

First reading was taught. They taught it through religious texts such as prayers and ten commandments. Okumayı bilen daha çok. Din ciddi bir işe yarıyor. Okusunlar ama fazla değil amaçlanıyormuş. İktidarın dediklerini anlayacak kadar okusunlar isteniyor.

Semiliterate (only knowing how to read)

Cleaner, gentil occupations were most likely to be literate.

Cheap books were required. Then came the entrepreneurial booksellers.

Gentil classes’ın ignore ettiği bir kitap formu ortaya çıkıyor fakirler için. Chap Book.  Chap man satıyor (travelling salesman). Özellikle kırsalda okumanın yayılmasında çok önemliler. Songs, moral instruction, historical tales and even abridged novels.

 Chapbook

Small pamphlet of 16 or 24 pages, illustrated by woodcuts and sold by chapmen, or itinerant pedlars, during the 18th century. Their subjects included medieval romance, popular folk heroes, and synoptic versions of literary classics such as The Pilgrim's Progress and Robinson Crusoe.

Chapbooks circulated in their thousands, maintaining links with the traditional oral culture of the Middle Ages. They persisted until the early 19th century

Another cheaper solution was came from a Scotsman. First “Lending Library” in Edinburgh. Allan Ramsey found it. Britanya’nın ilk ödünç kitap veren kütüphanesi Edinburgh’da kuruldu.

By 1740s, almost every provincial town had its own circulating library. Kadın erkek insanlar birlikte gidiyormuş.

High-minded moralists attacked against those cir. libraries. Insisted they disrupted people particularly women. İnsanların aklı çeliniyor falan bildik hezeyanalrla saldırıyorlar. Women read secretly, hiding books under pillows. Dolaplarda okuyanlar varmış.  They created  “genre” names as “conduct books” which sermoned women. They attacked novels as well. Kadınların okuyabilecekleri kitapların listesini yapıp yayınlamışlar. 

Books didn’t discriminate, they gave all the information women didn’t supposed to receive. Kadınlar gizli gizli okuyor kasabalarda köylerde.

Blue Stocking was a terms describing learned bookish women. There was a Blue Stockings group which were the first women to delve into intellectual subjects. Those times women were trifled in these areas. Roots of feminism.Elisabeth Montagu. Blue Stocking Salon kuruyor. Kadınlar çeşitli konuları bir araya gelip tartışıyor.

Novel, is the triumph of 18th century. Scripture taught goodness, news gave material information, NOVELS taught us about ourselves. They were kind of an imaginative freedom for the reader. Romanı frivolous ve corrupting görenler de var. For every reader, novel is an intense individual experience. And reader by reader, the novel changed the world.

1740 – Samuel Richardson – Pamela stands out amongst other novels.

First bestseller.

In one village, when Pamela and her suitor eventually married, they rang the marriage bells (Çakır için namaz kılanlar gibi J).  Hizmetçi kıza ev sahibi aşık oluyor ama kız ahlaklı ve reddediyor, bunun sonucu olarak da evlilikle ödüllendiriliyor gibi bir konu.

Book groups, reading groups in modern Britain. Very popular.