Egy új könyvsorozatról: Schriftmedien – Kommunikations- und buchwissenschaftliche Perspektiven / Written media – Perspectives in Communication and Book studies.

In den letzten Jahren ist eine Veränderung der deutschen buchwissenschaftlichen Forschung zu sehen, die von einer überwiegend historischen und narrativen Richtung eine notwendige Neukonzeption und Ausweitung von Forschungsfragen und ihrer theoretischen Basierung angeht.

About the benefits of a toxic article by D. A. Eliashevich “Book studies: life after death”

Head of the Department of Medialogy and Literature of St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture D. A. Eliashevich (Russia) published a profound article “Book Studies: life after death”, which examines the causes of the dеcay of book studies. About a third of his work is devoted to the denial of the importance of documentology for the book study training of students and, moreover, documentology as a scientific field and subject of teaching. The author also makes claims against the author of these lines, who was declared by D. A. Eliashevich to be the creator of this discipline. The published article develops the topic of the reasons of book science decline, while at the same time revealing the baselessness of attacks on documentology. We support a positive assessment of the works of modern authors: A. V. Markova, M. V. Rats, and K. N. Kostiuk. It is considered to be a fair rebuke to modern book critics who conduct researches without taking into account foreign book criticism. The author of the article defends the constructive idea that the most promising way of developing book studies is not confrontation, but cooperation with more general disciplines: philosophy, anthropology, documentology, medialogy, cultural studies, and communication studies.

Uma União de Mentes: Casamento e educação das mulheres

English society at the end of the end of the 18th century viewed women in association with, and dependent on, men. Marriage was an important part of society, since it was the only accepted future for young ladies. Therefore marriage was the main focus of middle class and aristocratic women’s education and an education based on accomplishments that could, as Mary Wollstonecraft has noted, make them vain and superficial. The book studies ; Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, and Elizabeth Inchbald’s Wedding Day, Everyone has his fault, Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are and Lover’s Vows, although coherent with their time, show independent female characters whose education allows them to think for themselves and not merely repeat opinions that they do not even understand; or just obey male orders and desires. That allows them to have a marriage based on equality. In Austen and Inchbald’s work marriage is based on love, being a union of equal minds that love and understand each other. This book discusses the situation of women at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, how the authors approch the issue of choice, female education, and marriage for love as a union of equal minds.

The Birth of Bibliologos. To the 100th Anniversary of the Institute of Book Studies

M.N. Kolesnikova’s monograph “Ahead of Time. To the 100th Anniversary of the Institute of Book Studies (Petrograd-Leningrad, 1920—1933)”, published in 2020, is a valuable contribution to the history of book science, library science, bibliography science, the general history of Russian culture and a fascinating textbook for students of library, information and media cultural school. The history of the Institute of Book Studies is a vivid illustration of the relationship between the totalitarian power and the creative intelligentsia. The monograph, which contains detailed biographical information about the employees of the Institute of Book Studies, can be called a reference book of library science and book science elite of Leningrad in the 1920s. All the classic problems of bibliography science, library science and book science were in the field of view of the staff of the Institute of Book Studies. Considering the constructive program of activities and the strong team of enthusiasts, the Institute could have grown into a truly research institution if the overall development of the country had gone differently.Based on the analysis of the scientific-research and educational activities of the Institute, it is concluded that it can be considered the birthplace of the Russian Bibliologos. Bibliologos is interpreted in two ways: first, as a social group of intellectuals-book lovers who ensure the functioning of the national bibliosphere; second, as a universe of bibliological knowledge embodied in book form as a result of scientific, pedagogical and practical activities of intellectuals-book lovers. The author highlights that it is necessary to preserve the memory of the Leningrad Institute of Book Studies, which served as the “cradle of the Russian Bibliologos” in the history of book culture.

The Birth of Bibliologos. To the 100th Anniversary of the Institute of Book Studies

M.N. Kolesnikova’s monograph “Ahead of Time. To the 100th Anniversary of the Institute of Book Studies (Petrograd-Leningrad, 1920—1933)”, published in 2020, is a valuable contribution to the history of book science, library science, bibliography science, the general history of Russian culture and a fascinating textbook for students of library, information and media cultural school. The history of the Institute of Book Studies is a vivid illustration of the relationship between the totalitarian power and the creative intelligentsia. The monograph, which contains detailed biographical information about the employees of the Institute of Book Studies, can be called a reference book of library science and book science elite of Leningrad in the 1920s. All the classic problems of bibliography science, library science and book science were in the field of view of the staff of the Institute of Book Studies. Considering the constructive program of activities and the strong team of enthusiasts, the Institute could have grown into a truly research institution if the overall development of the country had gone differently.Based on the analysis of the scientific-research and educational activities of the Institute, it is concluded that it can be considered the birthplace of the Russian Bibliologos. Bibliologos is interpreted in two ways: first, as a social group of intellectuals-book lovers who ensure the functioning of the national bibliosphere; second, as a universe of bibliological knowledge embodied in book form as a result of scientific, pedagogical and practical activities of intellectuals-book lovers. The author highlights that it is necessary to preserve the memory of the Leningrad Institute of Book Studies, which served as the “cradle of the Russian Bibliologos” in the history of book culture.

New book science: a look into the future

Modern media2 transformations are accompanied by changes in the spatio-temporal characteristics of social interaction. Traditional and new ways of fixing and transmitting ideas, their materialization through various communication channels are at the heart of these changes. This shapes the need for actualization of research, development of new approaches, clarification of the object and the subject of medialogical disciplines, including book studies.In this study, the main problems of modern Russian bibliology have been identified: limited potential of morally outdated approaches (structural-typological, functional, documentgraphics), a breakaway from the dynamically changing international social and humanitarian agenda and non-participation in international bibliological forums, the functioning of a closed system of scholarly communication. Among other problems are: methodological cliché, limited use of sociological methods, slow digitalization of book studies.The contemporary understanding of the production and dissemination of symbolic forms as an unstructured and non-hierarchical system requires fundamentally new research approaches, the extension of methodological tools, crossdisciplinary study of the theory and history of books.The purpose of the article is to form the concept of “a new book science” with the object which should be considered as a system with emphasis on feedback “author – writing – text – reading – reader”.A system of projects focused on practical implementation of this concept is proposed: medialogical approach development; interdisciplinary research of the history of the reader and reading in Russia; the formation of an independent scientific field – the sociology of book – and the design of the eponymous educational discipline; preparation of a modern textbook on book science for higher education.

“Pay to Play” in the German Book Trade?

This paper considers the success of the thriller Der neunte Arm des Oktopus (transl.: The Ninth Arm of the Octopus, Cologne: Bastei Lübbe, November 2020) by German drugstore magnate Dirk Rossmann. Certain elements of brand-name authorship are applicable here, but the market power of Rossmann goes far beyond name recognition. Beyond the typical marketing for a ‘big book’ in the sense of contemporary trade publishing, Rossmann flooded the campaign with his own funds. This contribution approaches an unlikely case study through a trilateral interdisciplinary perspective (book studies, economics, law), underlining the unequal footing on which books enter the market.

Corporate Elites and American Politics

The book begins by introducing the Silicon Valley 150+, the 175 biggest public and private firms in Silicon Valley, and discusses the intent of the book: to examine the political engagement of those individuals who founded and are CEOs of the SV150+ firms. This chapter introduces the main themes of the book, positioning the book against literatures covering business lobbying, political donations by firms, philanthropy and public policy, and the formation of new advocacy organizations. The chapter also includes three important lists: (1) the SV150+ firm list—the list of Silicon Valley firms the book studies; (2) the SV150+ CEO list—the list of CEOs the book studies; and (3) the SV150+ founder list—the list of founders the book studies. The chapter concludes with an overview of the chapters to come.