Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund - Available

What We See When We Read

by Peter Mendelsund
ebook
Read a sample Read a sample
A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader.
“A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images.” —The New York Times

What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page—a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so—and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved—or reviled—literary figures. In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literature—he considers himself first and foremost as a reader—into what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.
Expand title description text
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Kindle Book

  • Release date: August 5, 2014

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780804171649
  • Release date: August 5, 2014

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780804171649
  • File size: 31374 KB
  • Release date: August 5, 2014
Loading
Loading

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Literary Criticism Philosophy Nonfiction

Languages

English

A gorgeously unique, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading—how we visualize images from reading works of literature, from one of our very best book jacket designers, himself a passionate reader.
“A playful, illustrated treatise on how words give rise to mental images.” —The New York Times

What do we see when we read? Did Tolstoy really describe Anna Karenina? Did Melville ever really tell us what, exactly, Ishmael looked like? The collection of fragmented images on a page—a graceful ear there, a stray curl, a hat positioned just so—and other clues and signifiers helps us to create an image of a character. But in fact our sense that we know a character intimately has little to do with our ability to concretely picture our beloved—or reviled—literary figures. In this remarkable work of nonfiction, Knopf's Associate Art Director Peter Mendelsund combines his profession, as an award-winning designer; his first career, as a classically trained pianist; and his first love, literature—he considers himself first and foremost as a reader—into what is sure to be one of the most provocative and unusual investigations into how we understand the act of reading.
Expand title description text
Literary Criticism Philosophy Nonfiction