Books are deeply intertwined with the societies that produce them. Besides the unmistakable benefits leisure reading can give to individuals, such as literacy, creativity, imagination, knowledge...Show moreBooks are deeply intertwined with the societies that produce them. Besides the unmistakable benefits leisure reading can give to individuals, such as literacy, creativity, imagination, knowledge and empathy, this free time activity has an impact on a higher level too. The written word enables connections between individuals and communities in ways that were unimaginable before the Print Revolution. Books can encompass the values of a nation, they can communicate and reinforce them. These aspects are especially important in the case of a small nation with a distinct language, as a strong need of cultural preservation is present. The main focus of this thesis is the two-way connection between a country’s reading culture and its social, political and economic realms. It is based on the argument that participants of the reading landscape not only affect the readers with their actions, but have an indirect impact on the wider cultural system through the reading landscape. The means to support this argument is an analysis of the literary landscape of Hungary, based on a self-constructed model, the Reading Promotion Impact Matrix. The two dimensions of this model are the nation’s core values that are supported and reflected by the reading promotion efforts; and the areas that can impact and can be impacted by these reading promotion activities. The thesis also highlights the interactivity and interconnectedness of the participants of a country’s literary landscape.Show less
In recent decades, our understanding of archives has evolved beyond the familiar, institutional archive carefully tended to by a small group of trained professionals. Movements such as...Show moreIn recent decades, our understanding of archives has evolved beyond the familiar, institutional archive carefully tended to by a small group of trained professionals. Movements such as postcolonialism and postcustodialism, combined with the digital turn, have allowed interest in other, less conventional forms of archiving to emerge. As such, the concept of an archival continuum (that is, the understanding of archives as evolving and participatory systems rather than fixed institutions) has been accepted by archival scholarship. This thesis investigates whether printed family memoirs that incorporate visual material from family archives can be placed along said archival continuum. Four such memoirs – The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010), In Memory of Memory (2018), Heimat: A German Family Album (2018), and Letters to Camondo (2021) – have been selected as case studies by which to examine their potential archival and evidentiary value. Each memoir is a work of postmemory – following Marianne Hirsch, the authors are processing generational trauma passed down as a result of the Holocaust. I argue that it is not only the narratives that lend them archival value, but also their inclusion of archival material. As I will show, understanding published memoirs as archives supports an expanded recognition of non-professional memory work as archival. Importantly, the increased accessibility of published memoirs to a general audience versus that of conventional archives allows for greater interaction with the preserved objects, and so aids in supporting the societal memorialization of the Holocaust. By focusing on the paper editions of the books, I am able to examine the unique benefits and challenges of the printed book as a form of accessible archive and memory object.Show less
Preprints are complete scholarly manuscripts that have not (yet) been through a formal peer review process and are made publicly available, often by uploading them to a preprint server, which can...Show morePreprints are complete scholarly manuscripts that have not (yet) been through a formal peer review process and are made publicly available, often by uploading them to a preprint server, which can be accessed without any limitations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, preprints gained popularity because they allow for rapid dissemination of research, which was vital at that point. Yet, this increased popularity of preprints does not appear to have lessened since the recent end of the pandemic and it is not expected that it will rapidly diminish either. Instead, it has even spread to fields that have arguably had little to do with COVID research. It would appear that the pandemic was the boost preprints needed to become more widely accepted across many academic fields. Now, many contemporary critics argue that preprints are becoming ‘a common part of the scholarly publishing process’ and are referring to preprints as an ‘important tool’ in scholarly publishing, a way to ‘complement’ the current system. This thesis analyses which functions of academic publishing are complemented by preprints and in what way they prove to be important tools within the existing system. In order to do so, the thesis commences with a comparative analysis of five separate theories regarding what the functions of (academic) publishing are and builds a new theoretical framework with which to analyse preprints and their role.Show less
In the course of the twentieth century, digital multimodal longform journalism has grown to become one of the most consequential genres of online writing. From being a peripheral genre in the 1990s...Show moreIn the course of the twentieth century, digital multimodal longform journalism has grown to become one of the most consequential genres of online writing. From being a peripheral genre in the 1990s, it is now an essential part of most news outlet’s digital platforms. The genre’s ascent, its connection with the digital advances of the last two decades, and its effect on readers has been closely followed and widely analyzed by media scholars. This thesis is especially concerned with the latter topic as it primarily explores what affordances of the digital multimodal longform genre contribute to immersion.Show less
This thesis explores how literature has represented AI and evaluates the effectiveness of computers in assisting us to answer this question. This representation is studied starting from the period...Show moreThis thesis explores how literature has represented AI and evaluates the effectiveness of computers in assisting us to answer this question. This representation is studied starting from the period just before it was born as a scientific discipline in 1956, and ending in 2015. It first sets out to examine both the optimistic and the fatalistic view of AI and traces the sources of the fear of AI, and then continues to use computational methods to research the portrayal of AI in fiction. To facilitate the analysis, 39 speculative fiction books were filtered and a file was created that contained sentences on AI in the books. This enabled a study of animacy, sentiments, emotions, and synonyms of ‘helpful and ‘doom’ across the corpus. During the study, the flaws of computational analysis are highlighted, especially its lack of interpretation skills and inability to fully understand context. Consequently, this provides difficulty in drawing definitive conclusions about AI’s representation specifically. Still, despite its limitations, the study is able to conclude that most AI-themed fiction conveys a positive message to the reader.Show less
Catalogues have been a staple library feature for the last several centuries, a useful finding tool for readers and organizational aid for librarians; they are also a representation of a particular...Show moreCatalogues have been a staple library feature for the last several centuries, a useful finding tool for readers and organizational aid for librarians; they are also a representation of a particular place and time. The form and content of a catalogue can provide insights into the social norms and scholarly interests of the era in which it was created. Employing a longitudinal and comparative approach, this thesis examines the published catalogues of Leiden University Library’s Hebrew manuscripts collection throughout its four centuries of existence. I compare these catalogues, mark the differences in the ways they describe Hebrew manuscripts, and illuminate the social changes or emerging scholarly fields that likely influenced their creators. Throughout this thesis, I argue that when it comes to Hebrew manuscripts, any examination of historical cataloguing trends or choices cannot be complete without also considering that era’s societal attitudes toward Jews, the original creators of the language and texts contained in said manuscripts. I conclude that there exists a direct correlation between the quality of the catalogues’ manuscript descriptions and the cataloguer’s knowledge of the Hebrew language and of Jewish literature and culture; I extrapolate the implications of this conclusion for the future of manuscript cataloguing in the digital age.Show less
This thesis establishes the Japanese otome visual novel genre of media as a new, digital type of immersive multimodal reading for women. Otome revives the bygone late 20th-century academic debate...Show moreThis thesis establishes the Japanese otome visual novel genre of media as a new, digital type of immersive multimodal reading for women. Otome revives the bygone late 20th-century academic debate on interactive fiction, as the subgenre challenges the categories of media as we understand them: the otome visual novel format combines romantically-themed prose with visual, audial, and interactive elements. Otome visual novels evoke a feeling of influence over the plot progression through interactivity, yet present walls of text as their method of story-building and therefore require a significant amount of reading, which could preclude their consideration as either literature or games per se. Because of this generic ambiguity, visual novels have long been overlooked in academia. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of otome visual novels as part of Japanese (women’s) reading habits using Espen Aarseth’s concept of ‘ergodic literature’, supported by theory from Reading Studies, Literature Studies, and Game Studies. In doing so, this thesis sheds light on the subgenre’s immense popularity in its country of origin and illuminates its unique position to bridge the academic fields of Literature Studies and Game Studies in the digital age.Show less
This thesis studies a Middle Dutch Book of Hours which was copied in 1498 and illuminated in 1499 for Aef van Bolgerien, an inhabitant of Beverwijk, and which is currently preserved in the Special...Show moreThis thesis studies a Middle Dutch Book of Hours which was copied in 1498 and illuminated in 1499 for Aef van Bolgerien, an inhabitant of Beverwijk, and which is currently preserved in the Special Collections of Leiden University Libraries under the shelfmark BPL 2747. While several aspects of this manuscript have already received scholarly attention (in particular its colophon and decoration), this thesis presents a first comprehensive study into the history and contents of the codex. It focuses in particular on the way(s) in which the book was customized for the use by Aef van Bolgerien. Books of Hours were often made to order, meaning their contents could be adjusted to the preferences of the comissioner. As a result, while Books of Hours are the most surviving type of texts from the Middle Ages, they show great variety among them. As the selection of additional prayers in particular is specific to each copy, they offer insight into both the relgious practice of the first owner and, in general, into the practice of customising Books of Hours. For this reason, the eleven additional prayers contained in BPL 2747 were chosen to be transcribed and edited as part of the thesis. In the first chapter, the historical developments surrounding the production and use of the Book of Hours are discussed, focussing on developments in lay religious culture, the Devotio Moderna, and the vernacular translation of the Hours that was created in this context. The second chapter introduces the manuscript central to the study, BPL 2747, and provides insight into elements such as the materiality, provenance and decorations of the book. The third chapter contains a transcription of the prayers separate from the Hours. The final chapter, chapter 4, adresses the dissemination of the prayers and what they may tell us about van Bolgerien’s devotional practice.Show less
This thesis is a complete edition of the MS. album amicorum of the publisher and printmaker Pieter Schenck I, in Leiden University Library Special Collections (LTK 903), together with a critical...Show moreThis thesis is a complete edition of the MS. album amicorum of the publisher and printmaker Pieter Schenck I, in Leiden University Library Special Collections (LTK 903), together with a critical introduction and apparatus.Show less
Newspapers are published fast and often, even in the eighteenth century. Setting type by hand is a rather extensive process. Do we see traces of this complicated process in newspapers? And who...Show moreNewspapers are published fast and often, even in the eighteenth century. Setting type by hand is a rather extensive process. Do we see traces of this complicated process in newspapers? And who decides on the layout and typographical features of newspapers? Did typesetters copy typesetting habits from each other? Is it possible to see right away where a newspaper has been printed or do they all look similar? To find out more about printing processes and newspapers layouts during the late eighteenth century five French newspapers from three different countries were analyzed: the Gazette de Leyde, the Gazette d’Amsterdam, the Gazette de Nice, the Courrier d’Avignon and the Gazette de Berne. First, the historical background for all three countries and all five newspapers was researched, which is presented in chapter two and the first half of chapter three, before the printing practices in the Netherlands are introduced in the second half of chapter three. By looking more extensively at the manual written by David Wardenaar, Beschrijving der boekdrukkunst [Description of book printing], the process of printing newspapers became clearer. In chapter four the analysis of the five newspapers can be found, which helped distinguish whether there were typographical features that could be found in all five newspapers and whether the newspapers followed certain ‘trends’ or habits of other newspapers which they adopted.Show less
Literacy skills are declining in The Netherlands. In preparatory vocational education (vmbo) this trend is more visible than elsewhere. Educational professionals are looking for alternative ways to...Show moreLiteracy skills are declining in The Netherlands. In preparatory vocational education (vmbo) this trend is more visible than elsewhere. Educational professionals are looking for alternative ways to stimulate reading activity, particularly the sustained reading activity that is carried out when reading long-form fiction. Reading long-form fiction has considerable cognitive and emotional effects, but many vmbo-students struggle with this type of sustained reading activity. It is currently being discussed if literacy can perhaps be improved through audiobooks. However, it is not clear if ‘reading’ through other modalities has similar intended and unintended effects on literacy as the reading of alphabetic text has. In this thesis, the properties of visual and auditory reading technologies are compared to see how different methods of reading influence the reading process, both cognitively and in terms of reading motivation. The question is explored along the attentional, cognitive, emotional, phenomenological and ergonomic dimensions. The thesis considers embodied reading, modality-specific affordances, impact of (environmental) factors and the way these affect mental interaction with the text. This demonstrates that audiobooks can be used to improve skills related to literacy, but they do not invoke every skill used when reading alphabetic text. The most significant shortcoming of audiobooks is that decoding skills and attention retention are not strengthened as they are with print reading. However, audiobooks can increase vocabulary knowledge, comprehension and reading motivation, particularly for struggling readers. For them, the underexplored option of dual channel reading can also be a worthwhile reading alternative. Existing research suggests that dual channel reading diminishes the cognitive load and working memory effort which typically interfere with the development of high order reading skills. Ultimately, the question which reading method suits best is dependent on the abilities of students and the intended effects and purposed with which is being read in school.Show less
During the 17th century, the book industry of the Dutch Republic was blooming. This business did not focus purely on the province of Holland however. In this thesis, the printing work of the...Show moreDuring the 17th century, the book industry of the Dutch Republic was blooming. This business did not focus purely on the province of Holland however. In this thesis, the printing work of the Frisian printer Samuel van Haringhouck is discussed. Van Haringhouck was active in the city of Bolsward for almost 30 years. This thesis focuses on the way Van Haringhouck combined both local, national and international influences in his work and how he tried to sell his work to an audience outside of Friesland.Show less
