Résumés
Abstract
An impressive body of meticulous scholarship in the history of the book has led scholars to reject outmoded models of revolutionary change and technological determinism, and instead to explore themes of evolution and organic change. Similarly, the old unitary and Eurocentric book history is being supplanted by a series of parallel narratives where the focus is on human adaptation of new technologies to newly felt needs and fresh marketing opportunities. The article suggests that the study of book history is a way of thinking about how people have given material form to knowledge and stories. It highlights some particularly ambitious recent arguments, and emphasizes research, theory and pedagogy as the means to a wider understanding. Rather than being an academic discipline, book history is identified as an “interdiscipline,” an intellectual space where scholars practicing different disciplinary approaches and methodologies address the same capacious conceptual category.
Résumé
S’appuyant sur des travaux de recherche en histoire du livre à la fois nombreux et très fouillés, les chercheurs en sont venus à rejeter les anciens modèles axés sur le changement révolutionnaire et le déterminisme technologique pour explorer plutôt les thèmes de l’évolution et de la transformation organique. De la même manière, l’ancien récit d’une histoire du livre unitaire et eurocentriste cède la place à quantité de récits parallèles de l’adaptation, par l’humain, des nouvelles technologies aux besoins émergents et aux nouvelles occasions d’affaires. Cet article pose que l’étude de l’histoire du livre se prête en fait à une réflexion quant à la façon dont on confère une forme matérielle au savoir et aux histoires. Il fait état de propositions récentes particulièrement prometteuses et identifie la recherche, la théorie et la pédagogie en tant que vecteurs d’une compréhension plus vaste. Non plus abordée comme une discipline universitaire, l’histoire du livre est vue comme une « interdiscipline », un espace intellectuel au sein duquel des chercheurs préconisant des approches disciplinaires diverses se penchent sur une même et vaste catégorie conceptuelle.
Parties annexes
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