Reading

This special issue attempts to understand why the subject of reading in English studies acquired visibility in the 1980s and 1990s, only to fall into relative neglect, and then, in recent years, experienced a resurgence. The diverse approaches to reading in these essays do not tend to rigid conclusions about what “reading” currently means, what scholarship (and teaching) in reading should do, or which understandings of reading should be valued above others. Instead, they explore a wide range of interests, motivations, and approaches. Contributors discuss the role of reading in classical rhetoric, the use of reading in writing workshops and in writing centers, the function of “how-to” reading books, the reading strategies of everyday readers, and the challenges to reading posed by the digital era.