Publishing Journal ›› 2026, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (2): 118-128.

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On the “Symptomatic” Approach in the History of Reading Research

  

  1. (Center for Media Development Studies / School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072)
  • Received:2024-12-23 Revised:2025-07-31 Online:2026-05-08 Published:2026-05-09

Abstract: Through close textual readings of Roger Chartier’s major works on the history of reading, this article characterizes his research approach as a “symptomatic” approach. By this, it means that historians of reading recognize the many difficulties involved in explaining the relationships among texts produced by authors, books produced by publishers, and readers. On the theoretical level, Chartier mainly draws on conceptual tools such as textual poaching, habitus, representation, and Wirkungsgeschichte(history of effects/reception history)to remedy these “symptoms”, thereby achieving a subtle balance between the structural properties of texts and readers’ agency. Methodologically, Chartier primarily identifies and interprets readers’ practices of meaning appropriation and delineates the “interpretive communities” to which readers belong, so as to reveal the complex relationship between readers and texts. Chartier’s symptomatic approach tends to privilege readers’ agency, and it engages less in dialogue with scholars associated with structuralist orientations, such as Durkheim.

Key words: History of reading Roger Chartier Annales School Foucault Hermeneutics

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