Books about books, readers and collectors: the effect of simultaneous reading
Research Article
How to Cite
Veselkova N.V. (2025) Books about books, readers and collectors: the effect of simultaneous reading. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 28(1): 239-261 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.11 EDN: DCLYPY
Abstract
The synergetic effect of simultaneous reading is examined using the example of a recent book by Oxford professor of English literature Emma Smith, “Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers”, and the half-century-old “History of Soviet Bibliophilia” by Leningrad professor of Russian literature Pavel Berkov. Simultaneous or joint reading is likened to conjoint analysis, where the reader finds himself in the role of a test subject. By confronting two traditions of book perception: the domestic one of the 1960s and the current British one, such reading helps to evaluate the current turn to materiality, which tunes attention to the agency of things. Modulations of the personal mode of writing, difficult memory, bookhood, and anthropomorphism are analyzed. The differently resolved inclusion of the author’s “I” is relevant in the context of current discussions about the transformation of the norms of academic writing. To what extent can a scientist’s text be personal and biographically colored, raising special questions and permeated with fundamental ethical issues? Joint reading shows in what cases and for what purpose the authors resort to personal accents. In Berkov's work, the personal mode is involved in the work of difficult memory, in the story about repressed scientists, bibliophiles (N.N. Orlov, N.P. Likhachev), in Smith's work it is somewhat different. She also solves the theme of difficult memory differently, in the context of global inequalities, but it is also there. Smith's concept of bookhood differs from that accepted in the Russian tradition and describes the multisensory materiality of a book, uniting form with content. Moving away from the romanticization of bookhood, Smith considers the participation of books in social macroprocesses: the confrontation of ideologies, the spread of marketing strategies, etc. Both authors insist on the agency of the book, but in Berkov's work it is an elevating force for a person, while in Smith's work it is ambivalent. For Smith, the refusal to equate books with people is fundamental.
Keywords:
bookhood, materiality, personal mode in academic writing, remediation, anthropomorphism, Pavel Berkov, Emma Smith
References
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Arseniev P. (2022) Time and the Materiality of Reading. Versus, 2(5): 193–208 (in Russian).
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Berkov P.N. (1971) The History of Soviet Bibliophilia. Moscow: Kniga (in Russian).
Berkov P.N. (1983) The History of Soviet Bibliophilia. Moscow: Kniga (in Russian).
Venkatesh S. (2018) Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets. Moscow: RIPOL Classic (in Russian).
Kipiani N. (2018) Ob avtorskom “ya” v akademicheskom diskurse [Аbout the author’s “I” in academic discourse]. Kultura. Perevod. Kommunikatsiya: sbornik nauchnykh trudov, 2. Moscow: Universitetskaya kniga: 423–426 (in Russian).
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Kolesnikova N.I. (2010) What is important to know about the language and style of academic texts. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii [Higher Education in Russia], 3: 130–137 (in Russian).
Kolesnikova N.I. (2022) Russian scientific style vs academic writing. Society. Communication. Education, 13(1): 36–47 (in Russian).
[Mashkova M.V.] (1978) Pavel Naumovich Berkov (1896–1969). In: Berkov P.N. Selected Works on Bibliology and Bibliographic Science. Moscow: Kniga: 3–16 (in Russian).
Meshcherskaya E.N., Piotrovskaya E.K. (2012) The Museum of Paleography of Academician N. P. Likhachev and its Fate (1925–1930). “Only Letters Sound...”: On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician N.P. Likhachev. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage: 49–65 (in Russian).
Moskalenko A.V. (2011) Museum of Paleography, the USSR Academy of Sciences: from N.P. Likhachev’s Collection of Antiquities to the Institute of Auxiliary Historical Disciplines. Fotografiya. Izobrazheniye. Dokument [Photography. Image. Document], 2(2): 17–22 (in Russian).
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Nikolenko A.V. (2011b) Issues of bibliophilia in the works of P.N. Berkov: unrealized projects and unpublished materials. Berkovskiye chteniya: Knizhnaya kul'tura v kontekste mezhdunarodnykh kontaktov [Berkov Readings: Book Culture in the Context of International Contacts]: Proc. of the Int. scientific conf. (Minsk, May 25–26, 2011). Moscow: 258–265 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2012a) P.N. Berkov and the Museum (Institute) of Books, Documents and Writing of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Fedorovskiye chteniya — 2011 [Fedorov Readings — 2011]. Moscow: 453–460; Application: 460–468 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2017) P.N. Berkov in his work on the “History of Soviet Bibliophilia” (based on archival materials). Bibliography, 4: 13–27 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2019) The First Experience of Creating a History of Russian Bibliophilia. In Memory of P.N. Berkov (1896–1969). Modern Problems of Book Culture: Main Trends and Development Prospects: Proceedings of the X International Scientific Seminar and XI Belarusian-Russian Scientific Seminar, Moscow, September 12, 2019, October 9, 2019. Moscow: Nauka; Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus: 132–144 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2021) The history of bibliophilia in the works by P.N. Berkov: to the 125th anniversary of his birth. Berkovskye chteniya 2021. Book culture in the context of International contacts. Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; Moscow: Science: 366–377 (in Russian).
Pankratova A.V. (2023) Flat design as visualization of flat ontologies. Kul'tura i iskusstvo [Culture and Art], 7: 23–32 (in Russian).
Pinchuk O.V. (2025) Features of the methodology of observant participation in ethnography of work and the workplace. Thesis for the purpose of obtaining academic degree PhD in Sociology. Moscow (in Russian).
Rutten E. (2017) Soviet rhetoric of sincerity. Neprikosnovennyy zapas [Emergency reserve], 3(113): 172–192 (in Russian).
Samarin A.Yu. Books from the library of Academician N.P. Likhachev at modern antique auctions. Berkovskye chteniya 2023. Book culture in the context of International contacts. Moscow: Science; Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; 243–247 (in Russian).
Svoiskii M.L. (1977) Facts, events, people. Museum of paleography. Voprosy Istorii, 4: 211–215 (in Russian).
Smith E. (2023) Notes of a Bibliophile: Why Books Have Power Over Us / trans. from English by T. Kamyshnikova [Original title: “Portable magic. A History of Books and Their Readers”] Moscow: KoLibri; Azbuka-Atticus (in Russian).
Schemeleva I.Yu. (2013) Pronouns as a means of conveying the author’s position in English and Russian scientific texts. Bulletin of Saint Petersburg University. Language and Literature, 9(4): 143–153 (In Russian).
Bolter J.D., Grusin R. (1996) Remediation. Configurations, 4(3): 311–358.
Bolter J.D., Grusin R. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bolter J.D. (2016) Remediation. The international encyclopedia of communication theory and philosophy. New York: John Wiley & Sons: 1–11.
Colyar J. (2009) Becoming Writing, Becoming Writers. Qualitative Inquiry, 15(2): 421–436.
Fleming D.H., Brown W. (2015) A skeuomorphic cinema: film form, content and criticism in the ‘Post-Analogue’ Era. Fibreculture Journal, 24(176): 81–105.
Hyland K., Jiang F.K. (2019) Academic discourse and global publishing: Disciplinary persuasion in changing times. London: Routledge.
Hyland K., Jiang F.K. (2016) Change of attitude? A diachronic study of stance. Written Communication, 33(3): 215–274.
Jones J.L. (2017) Print nostalgia: Skeuomorphism and Rockwell Kent’s woodblock style. American Art, 31(3): 2–25.
Metz B. (2021) Bookishness and the Body of the Book/the Body of the Reader: On the Usages of Books. In: Hildebrand-Schat V., Bazarnik K., Schulz Ch.B. (eds.) Refresh the Book: On the Hybrid Nature of the Book in the Age of Electronic Publishing, 41. Leiden; Boston: Brill Rodopi: 288–308.
Pressman J. (2009) The Aesthetic of Bookishness in Twenty-First-Century Literature. Michigan Quarterly Review, 48(4): 465–482.
Pressman J. (2018) Bookwork and Bookishness: An Interview with Doug Beube and Brian Dettmer. In: Wurth K.B., Driscoll K, Pressman J. (eds.) Book Presence in a Digital Age. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: 60–67.
Pressman J. (2020) Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age. New York: Columbia UP.
Schilhab Th., Walker S. (eds.) (2020) The Materiality of Reading. Aarhus University Press.
Vassileva I. (1998) Who am I / who are we in academic writing? A contrastive analysis of authorial presence in English, German, French, Russian and Bulgarian. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(2): 163–190.
Venkatesh S.A. (2013) The reflexive turn: The rise of first-person ethnography. The Sociological Quarterly, 54(1): 3–8.
Apukhtina N.G., Neveleva V.S. (2012) The Phenomenon of Booklore: A Philosophical and Cultural Understanding of the History and Current State. Vestnik kul'tury i iskusstv [Culture and Arts Herald], 1(29): 48–51 (in Russian).
Arseniev P. (2022) Time and the Materiality of Reading. Versus, 2(5): 193–208 (in Russian).
Berkov P.N. (1965) Of people and books (from a book lover’s note). Moscow: Kniga (in Russian).
Berkov P.N. (1967) Russian booklovers. Moscow; Leningrad: Sovetskiy pisatel' (in Russian).
Berkov P.N. (1971) The History of Soviet Bibliophilia. Moscow: Kniga (in Russian).
Berkov P.N. (1983) The History of Soviet Bibliophilia. Moscow: Kniga (in Russian).
Venkatesh S. (2018) Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets. Moscow: RIPOL Classic (in Russian).
Kipiani N. (2018) Ob avtorskom “ya” v akademicheskom diskurse [Аbout the author’s “I” in academic discourse]. Kultura. Perevod. Kommunikatsiya: sbornik nauchnykh trudov, 2. Moscow: Universitetskaya kniga: 423–426 (in Russian).
Klimanov L.G. (1991) Scientist and collector, «known all over Russia, even more Europe». In: Melua A.I., Orel V.M. (comp.); Yaroshevskiy M.G. (ed.) Repressirovannaya nauka [Science under Conditions of Political Repression], 1. Leningrad: Nauka (in Russian).
Kolesnikova N.I. (2010) What is important to know about the language and style of academic texts. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii [Higher Education in Russia], 3: 130–137 (in Russian).
Kolesnikova N.I. (2022) Russian scientific style vs academic writing. Society. Communication. Education, 13(1): 36–47 (in Russian).
[Mashkova M.V.] (1978) Pavel Naumovich Berkov (1896–1969). In: Berkov P.N. Selected Works on Bibliology and Bibliographic Science. Moscow: Kniga: 3–16 (in Russian).
Meshcherskaya E.N., Piotrovskaya E.K. (2012) The Museum of Paleography of Academician N. P. Likhachev and its Fate (1925–1930). “Only Letters Sound...”: On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician N.P. Likhachev. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage: 49–65 (in Russian).
Moskalenko A.V. (2011) Museum of Paleography, the USSR Academy of Sciences: from N.P. Likhachev’s Collection of Antiquities to the Institute of Auxiliary Historical Disciplines. Fotografiya. Izobrazheniye. Dokument [Photography. Image. Document], 2(2): 17–22 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2011a) P.N. Berkov as a historian of Russian bibliophilia: archival finds (from correspondence with the editors of the publishing house “Book” and the collection “Book. Research and Materials”). Fedorovskiye chteniya — 2010 [Fedorov Readings — 2010]: Proc. Int. scientific conf. Moscow: 197–211 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2011b) Issues of bibliophilia in the works of P.N. Berkov: unrealized projects and unpublished materials. Berkovskiye chteniya: Knizhnaya kul'tura v kontekste mezhdunarodnykh kontaktov [Berkov Readings: Book Culture in the Context of International Contacts]: Proc. of the Int. scientific conf. (Minsk, May 25–26, 2011). Moscow: 258–265 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2012a) P.N. Berkov and the Museum (Institute) of Books, Documents and Writing of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Fedorovskiye chteniya — 2011 [Fedorov Readings — 2011]. Moscow: 453–460; Application: 460–468 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2017) P.N. Berkov in his work on the “History of Soviet Bibliophilia” (based on archival materials). Bibliography, 4: 13–27 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2019) The First Experience of Creating a History of Russian Bibliophilia. In Memory of P.N. Berkov (1896–1969). Modern Problems of Book Culture: Main Trends and Development Prospects: Proceedings of the X International Scientific Seminar and XI Belarusian-Russian Scientific Seminar, Moscow, September 12, 2019, October 9, 2019. Moscow: Nauka; Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus: 132–144 (in Russian).
Nikolenko A.V. (2021) The history of bibliophilia in the works by P.N. Berkov: to the 125th anniversary of his birth. Berkovskye chteniya 2021. Book culture in the context of International contacts. Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; Moscow: Science: 366–377 (in Russian).
Pankratova A.V. (2023) Flat design as visualization of flat ontologies. Kul'tura i iskusstvo [Culture and Art], 7: 23–32 (in Russian).
Pinchuk O.V. (2025) Features of the methodology of observant participation in ethnography of work and the workplace. Thesis for the purpose of obtaining academic degree PhD in Sociology. Moscow (in Russian).
Rutten E. (2017) Soviet rhetoric of sincerity. Neprikosnovennyy zapas [Emergency reserve], 3(113): 172–192 (in Russian).
Samarin A.Yu. Books from the library of Academician N.P. Likhachev at modern antique auctions. Berkovskye chteniya 2023. Book culture in the context of International contacts. Moscow: Science; Minsk: Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus; 243–247 (in Russian).
Svoiskii M.L. (1977) Facts, events, people. Museum of paleography. Voprosy Istorii, 4: 211–215 (in Russian).
Smith E. (2023) Notes of a Bibliophile: Why Books Have Power Over Us / trans. from English by T. Kamyshnikova [Original title: “Portable magic. A History of Books and Their Readers”] Moscow: KoLibri; Azbuka-Atticus (in Russian).
Schemeleva I.Yu. (2013) Pronouns as a means of conveying the author’s position in English and Russian scientific texts. Bulletin of Saint Petersburg University. Language and Literature, 9(4): 143–153 (In Russian).
Bolter J.D., Grusin R. (1996) Remediation. Configurations, 4(3): 311–358.
Bolter J.D., Grusin R. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bolter J.D. (2016) Remediation. The international encyclopedia of communication theory and philosophy. New York: John Wiley & Sons: 1–11.
Colyar J. (2009) Becoming Writing, Becoming Writers. Qualitative Inquiry, 15(2): 421–436.
Fleming D.H., Brown W. (2015) A skeuomorphic cinema: film form, content and criticism in the ‘Post-Analogue’ Era. Fibreculture Journal, 24(176): 81–105.
Hyland K., Jiang F.K. (2019) Academic discourse and global publishing: Disciplinary persuasion in changing times. London: Routledge.
Hyland K., Jiang F.K. (2016) Change of attitude? A diachronic study of stance. Written Communication, 33(3): 215–274.
Jones J.L. (2017) Print nostalgia: Skeuomorphism and Rockwell Kent’s woodblock style. American Art, 31(3): 2–25.
Metz B. (2021) Bookishness and the Body of the Book/the Body of the Reader: On the Usages of Books. In: Hildebrand-Schat V., Bazarnik K., Schulz Ch.B. (eds.) Refresh the Book: On the Hybrid Nature of the Book in the Age of Electronic Publishing, 41. Leiden; Boston: Brill Rodopi: 288–308.
Pressman J. (2009) The Aesthetic of Bookishness in Twenty-First-Century Literature. Michigan Quarterly Review, 48(4): 465–482.
Pressman J. (2018) Bookwork and Bookishness: An Interview with Doug Beube and Brian Dettmer. In: Wurth K.B., Driscoll K, Pressman J. (eds.) Book Presence in a Digital Age. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: 60–67.
Pressman J. (2020) Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age. New York: Columbia UP.
Schilhab Th., Walker S. (eds.) (2020) The Materiality of Reading. Aarhus University Press.
Vassileva I. (1998) Who am I / who are we in academic writing? A contrastive analysis of authorial presence in English, German, French, Russian and Bulgarian. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(2): 163–190.
Venkatesh S.A. (2013) The reflexive turn: The rise of first-person ethnography. The Sociological Quarterly, 54(1): 3–8.
Article
Received: 02.02.2025
Accepted: 25.03.2025
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Veselkova, N.V. 2025. Books about books, readers and collectors: the effect of simultaneous reading. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 28, 1 (Mar. 2025), 239-261. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.11.
Section
New Books on Social Sciences and Humanities
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