Response 30: "Imagining The Manuscript And Printed Book In A Digital Age"

The part that stuck out to me the most in this reading was the part where Siemens discussed the form of the poem “’Easter Wings’” and this idea of incorporating form and context together and how holding, rotating, and closing the text each have a significant part in both form and context just because it’s different from the typical form of book and process of reading that we’re used to (832-833).

I also really liked the idea of the connection of binding a book by hand. Although it’s undoubtedly a pain to bind books for the whole day, the general notion of the “intimate relationship between the materiality of the book and physiological processes involved in producing, reading, and interpreting such texts” is oddly beautiful and comforting (828). I remember from class discussion, that when books were first made and circulated (before the printing press), that they were more expensive than they are now and were thus considered a sign of wealth.  

I do think that the form that the text comes in can influence the reader, but also that preferred forms of text vary with the reader as well (not just in relation to religious texts but literature as well). For example, carrying around a large book may be heavy but more preferable to some, while others may prefer the level of ease associated with reading tablets. In today’s age, because we are so used to tablets/books/laptops, exploring the older ways manuscripts or literature were transcribed on would be very interesting (for example, papyrus paper).