Fever Reading: Affect and Reading Badly in the Early American Public Sphere

Index

{ 181 Index Note: Page numbers in italics indicate figures. abstraction/embodiment antinomy, 89–90, 92, 108–9, 134–35, 136–39. See also double movement in reading abstract relationality to religious affiliation , 128–29, 133–34 Abu-Lughod, Lila, 19 Adams, John Quincy, 103 addiction, social anxiety over reading as, 46, 59–60. See also reading badly Adut, Ari, 98 affective-critical public sphere: Greiman’s argument, 154–55n6; and limitations in literary studies, 145–46; scandal reading, 97; theoretical perspective, 72–73, 144, 162n3; virtues of combination, 142–45, 166–67n35. See also double movement in reading affective reading: in colonial New England’s spiritual autobiographies, 36–38; drama of evidence as affective experience, 115; and obscene literature, 81–88; vs. rational-critical reading, xvi–xvii, 11–12, 81–88; research issues, xvii–xviii; Richards on, 55; in scandal reading, 97; theoretical perspective, xiii–xiv, xix, xx–xxi; Warner on, 11. See also emotion ; social anxiety over reading African-American reading, 62–66 agency: abstraction and transposition as evidence of, 48–49; of book, 61–62; Douglass’s approach to reading, 65; in obscene reading, 71, 93; in prayerful reading, 137–38; in reading and thought choice, 128–29; and scandalous reading, 95–96, 97, 107, 114, 118–19; sporting newspapers, 78 American Tract Society (ATS), 123–30 The Amorous Intrigues and Adventures of Aaron Burr, 87–88 Anderson, Amanda, 162n3 Anderson, Benedict, 133 Anglo-African reading, 61–63 antebellum period: celebrity scandal reading, 103–9; institutional scandal, 110–15; reading changes in, 25, 66, 68 Anthony, David, 166n34 anti-authoritarian reading, 48–49 Appeal (Walker), 63 appearance-reality distinction and scandal, 98 Austin, J. L., 17 Autobiography (B. Franklin), 39 autonomy: and detachment from text, 9, 48–49, 57; through literacy, 64 Awful Disclosures . . ., 110–12, 113–15 bad reading. See reading badly Barnum, P. T., 103 Beck, Ulrich, 116 Benjamin, Walter, 92 Berlant, Lauren, 17, 19–20, 93, 154–55n6 Bible, influence on reading, 31–33, 34, 36–37, 124–25 book: agency of, 61–62; as public discourse topic source, 44–46; uses of outside of reading, 31 book-as-life trope in 17th-century writing , 33–34 182 } index The Book of the General Lawes and Libertyes, 34 boredom and ennui from obscene reading , 91–92 Boston Gazette, 38 Boston News-Letter, 38 Bourriaud, Nicolas, 24 Brokmeyer, Henry Conrad, 67–68 Brown, Charles Brockden, 47–48, 50–51, 56–58, 68, 160n35 Brown, Matthew P., 32, 35–36 Brown, William Hill, xix, 3–6, 9, 56, 58, 100 Burwell, Nathaniel, 51 canonical aesthetics theory, 56 canonical reception theory, 54 captivity narrative, 32–33 Castiglia, Christopher, 113–14 Castronovo, Russ, 154–55n5–6 causation, individuals vs. institutions as agents of, 113 celebrity scandal, 103–9 character, reading as shaper of, 44. See also social norms Circulation and Character of the Volumes of the American Tract Society . . ., 130 cognitive role of emotions, 13–20, 156n14, 157n16, 158n18 Cole, Nathan, 37 colonial-era social structures for reading , 31–42 colporteurs, 123–30 commodity fetishism, celebrity as, 105 communications revolution of early 1800s, 66–68 community orientation of reading, 45–46. See also public sphere Comstock, Anthony, 75 The Confessions of Nat Turner (Turner), 63–64 confession vs. disclosure and scandal reading, 112 Constitution, U.S., concerns over proper interpretation, 43 conversation, reading as, 5, 44–45, 61–62, 81–82, 83–84, 110, 121–22 counterpublic sphere, 90–91, 93, 154–55n6 The Countess (Thompson), 86, 88, 104, 106–7, 115 critical agency. See agency criticality, affective response’s role in, 72–73. See also affective-critical public sphere; rational-critical reading Crockett, Davy, 103 cultural role of emotions, 14–15, 55 cultural studies, reading perspective of, 22, 145–46 The Dairyman’s Daughter, 131–35, 136–37, 139 damaged celebrities, fascination with, 105–6, 108 Damasio, Antonio, 14 Darnton, Robert, 144 Davidson, Cathy, 3 decoding-interpretation model of reading , xiii, xviii de-emotionalizing embodiment in obscene literature, 88, 89, 91 democracy as system, 113, 115 democratization of fame, 103–4 democratization of public sphere, 7–8 Derrida, Jacques, 27 detachment and discipline in reading. See rational-critical reading Dillon, Elizabeth Maddock, 64–65, 154n5 distance, critical, in reading. See rational-critical reading double movement in reading: and Anthony on sensation readers, 166n34; in current pathological public sphere, 168n11; obscene reading, 82, 83–84, 85, 86–87, 89–90, 92; index { 183 prayerful reading...