The Forms and Uses of Contemporary Books: Studying the Book as a Mass Produced Commodity and an Intimate Object
Abstract
This article introduces a framework for studying contemporary books as material objects. The article discusses books as transformable objects, the social lives of which reveal varying aspects of the communities around them.
Taking an object-oriented approach to the book requires understanding its twofold nature as a material object. The book is both one of the first mass-produced commodities and a singular thing that is intimately used and reused by its readers. Books circulate in tens of thousands of identical copies, but individual readers regularly leave their marks on their own books, thus using the material affordances offered by books to their own ends.
In order to take this double-nature of the book into account, the article introduces a framework for studying books both from the perspective of their forms and of their uses. It approaches the production and the reception of books as material practices that leave investigable traces in the material objects.
Author Biography
Hanna Kuusela
Hanna Kuusela, PhD, is a researcher in cultural studies. She focuses on contemporary literature, cultural theory and contemporary politics. Currently, she is doing research on collaborative writing practices and the culture of crowdfunding. In 2015-2016, she works as a University Lecturer in Media Studies, at the University of Turku, Finland. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Media Culture at the University of Tampere, Finland.