Reading aloud

[halifax_slasher]

Borges, in “On the Cult of Books,” quotes Augustine as the first to record someone reading silently: “When Ambrose [Bishop of Milan] read, his eyes moved over the pages, and his soul penetrated the meaning, without his uttering a word or moving his tongue” (Confessions VI

Comments

[goawayplease]

You know, I always wondered when people figured out the "reading silently" thing. When I first learned that people once only read aloud, I thought it was the oddest thing ever. I think I might even have read something that suggested that people who read silently were possessed or at least, not right in the head...

I guess in a society where many people could look at books but not read them, maybe reading aloud was proof that you were literate and a good way to share with others.

[halifax_slasher]

Well, when we learn to read, we read aloud first. So if a society is learning to read...um, I'm not sure if it follows, but Spengler might argue it would.

Do you know where you read about silent readers being possessed?--that sounds very interesting!

[goawayplease]

You know, I wonder if having standardized spelling helps with reading silently...

I can't remember where I read it... maybe it was related to either the witchcraft scares or the Spanish Inquisition?

[dratomic]

Fascinating. I never knew that people used to only read aloud.

Can you imagine how often the librarians in Alexandria went around shushing people? They probably pulled their shush muscles...

[swan_bot]

shush muscles=awesome