The Gutenberg Galaxy 1500 - 20, 000, 000 Books in Print 1600 - 200, 000, 000 Books in Print

1500 - 20, 000, 000 Books in Print

1600 - 200, 000, 000 Books in Print

Mass Literacy urbanization printing centralized government

urbanization

printing

centralized government

Nation the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic e ntity.

State the state is a political and geopoliti cal entity

The Nation-State A political unit consisting of an autonomous state inhabited predominantly by a people sharing a common culture, history, and language.

Rise the of Nation-State 15th-18th Centuries

Nation-State Development of Central, Secular Governance - less powerful monarch and church Rise of Vernacular Languages - Latin became less influential Shared Identity - idea of belonging to a particular cultural, political and geographical entity

Development of Central, Secular Governance - less powerful monarch and church

Rise of Vernacular Languages - Latin became less influential

Shared Identity - idea of belonging to a particular cultural, political and geographical entity

Historical Map of Europe 1400

Historical Map of Europe 1800

Historical Map of Europe 1900

“ The Origins of National Consciousness”

Print Capitalism print as a commodity the printed book as the first mass produced commodity within 150 years, the saturation of the Latin market leads printers to seek out new markets vernacular languages represented “potentially huge” markets

print as a commodity

the printed book as the first mass produced commodity

within 150 years, the saturation of the Latin market leads printers to seek out new markets

vernacular languages represented “potentially huge” markets

Capitalism and Vernacular Languages Changing character of Latin Impact of the Reformation Spread of particular Vernaculars as instruments of Administrative Centralization

Changing character of Latin

Impact of the Reformation

Spread of particular Vernaculars as instruments of Administrative Centralization

Changing character of Latin Scholars began to emphasize Classical Works over Ecclesiastical Sources Humanists turned to Cicero and other Roman rhetoricians, as well Ancient Greek works This Latin was very different in character and usage than Church Latin and led to the decline of Church Latin as a lingua franca

Changing character of Latin

Scholars began to emphasize Classical Works over Ecclesiastical Sources

Humanists turned to Cicero and other Roman rhetoricians, as well Ancient Greek works

This Latin was very different in character and usage than Church Latin and led to the decline of Church Latin as a lingua franca

Impact of the Reformation Martin Luther 1517 - Posts the 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg The first author to sell works on the basis of his name Within 15 days these were seen all over Germany Opening of a “colossal religious propaganda war”

Impact of the Reformation

Martin Luther

1517 - Posts the 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg

The first author to sell works on the basis of his name

Within 15 days these were seen all over Germany

Opening of a “colossal religious propaganda war”

Vernaculars and Centralized Administration Particular vernaculars became favored Crowded out other vernaculars and dialects This began prior to the advent of print Print accelerated this process

Particular vernaculars became favored

Crowded out other vernaculars and dialects

This began prior to the advent of print

Print accelerated this process

Print Capitalism Required the dominance of a few specific vernaculars “if print capitalism had sought to exploit each potential oral vernacular market, it would have remained a capitalism of petty proportions” (43) Varied dialects were assembled into print-languages far fewer in number

Required the dominance of a few specific vernaculars

“if print capitalism had sought to exploit each potential oral vernacular market, it would have remained a capitalism of petty proportions” (43)

Varied dialects were assembled into print-languages far fewer in number

Print Capitalism laid the foundation for National Consciousness in Three Distinct Ways Created unified fields of exchange - various dialects that would have had a hard time communicating could now relate via print Gave a new fixity to languages - book form gave permanence to language - rate of linguistic change slowed Created languages of power - certain dialects were inevitably closer to print language

Created unified fields of exchange - various dialects that would have had a hard time communicating could now relate via print

Gave a new fixity to languages - book form gave permanence to language - rate of linguistic change slowed

Created languages of power - certain dialects were inevitably closer to print language

The Role of Print in the Rise of the Nation-State Rise of Vernacular Languages Decline of Latin Growth in Readership - due in part to Protestant Movements Development of New Literary Forms All factor into the consolidation of the Nation-State

Rise of Vernacular Languages

Decline of Latin

Growth in Readership - due in part to Protestant Movements

Development of New Literary Forms

All factor into the consolidation of the Nation-State

“ the convergence of capitalism and print technology on the fatal diversity of language created the possibility of a new form of imagined community, which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation”

Literacy, Literature and the Nation

The Novel E.M. Forster: “A fiction in prose of a certain extent” An extended prose narrative Novel - New

Rise of the Novel 17th and 18th Centuries

Precursors of the Novel Elizabethan prose fiction French heroic romance--vast baroque narratives about thinly disguised contemporaries (mid-17th century) who always acted nobly and spoke high-flown sentiment Spanish picaresque tales--strings of episodic adventures held together by the personality of the central figure; Don Quixote is the best known of these tales.

Elizabethan prose fiction

French heroic romance--vast baroque narratives about thinly disguised contemporaries (mid-17th century) who always acted nobly and spoke high-flown sentiment

Spanish picaresque tales--strings of episodic adventures held together by the personality of the central figure; Don Quixote is the best known of these tales.

“ horizontal-secular-transverse time”