Public or shared readings aloud have been standard practice for centuries. But, leaving aside those that are usually organized on the occasion of the celebration of Book Day –as the continued reading of the Quixote in Madrid–, reading in front of an audience today is exceptional.
However, as Alberto Manguel explains in A history of Readingthere are some moments throughout the last centuries in which reading for others was an act with a very specific function.
in the monasteries
In the sixth century, Saint Benedict of Nursia decreed that reading aloud be an essential part of monastic life. Article 38 of its Rulerwhich was applied in the Cistercian monasteries founded throughout Europe from the beginning of the 12th century, establishes how this reading activity should be:
“At the time of the brothers’ meal it will always be read; no one dares to take the book and start reading at random, but rather that the one to whom it corresponds to read during the whole week begins his homework on Sunday. And, as he prepares to start it after Mass and Holy Communion, ask everyone to pray for him, so that God will separate him from the spirit of joy”.
As we can see, in the time of Saint Benedict it was considered that listening to a reader was a spiritual exercise with a high purpose, so these readings aloud were far, at least theoretically, from personal pleasure.
In the tobacco workshops in Havana
Giving a great leap forward, this way of reading with a reader and an audience became something revolutionary in Cuba in the 19th century. Although reading aloud within the work environment had already been carried out in other contexts, the case of Cuba is striking because it was an act that became institutionalized among the tobacco working class of that time.
Saturnino Martínez, in 1835, had the idea of publishing a newspaper for workers in the cigarette industry. The first number of The Aurora It appeared on October 22 of that year. But illiteracy was an obstacle to its becoming a popular newspaper.
For this reason, Martínez came up with the idea of using readers as a way of accessing Cuban workers who did not know how to read, which were the majority. Thus began the public readings during the work, the end of which was announced in the first editorial: “Its purpose will be to illustrate, in all possible ways, the social class for which it is intended.”
After a very short time, this practice was accused of being subversive and ended up disappearing. However, the public readings in tobacconists were not forgotten and, despite the difficulties experienced during their existence, they still survive in Cuba. Moreover, this practice has been recognized as part of the cultural heritage of the Cuban nation.
in Don Quixote
Reading aloud hasn’t always served such uplifting or instructive purposes. Manguel, in the previously mentioned book, also explains that reading for others could have pure pleasure as its goal and, to illustrate it, he cites this passage of Don Quijote of La Mancha:
“When it is harvest time, many reapers gather here for festivals, and there is always someone who knows how to read, who takes one of these books in his hands, and more than thirty of us surround him, and we are listening to him with such pleasure that we take away a thousand gray hairs.”
This mention of reading aloud arises in the conversation about books that the priest and the innkeeper Palomeque have in this chapter. Next, the priest finds, among the books that the innkeeper guards, the short novel the cheeky curious. At the insistence of those present, the priest proceeds to read it, although this story occupies the next chapter in Cervantes’s novel.
Thus, after defending the innkeeper reading aloud with no other purpose than to entertain, the priest represents one of those reading moments.
sync brains
The pleasure of reading aloud, and listening to stories, would be justifiedsince “when one person reads aloud to another, whether it is a child or an adult, something magical happens between the two, and that is that their brains synchronize”, in the sense that “the counter of the story and the listener experience the same brain activity and release the exact same neurochemicals,” which explains why reading aloud creates such a powerful sense of shared encounter and delight.
In Manguel’s words, “the listening ceremony deprives the listener of part of the freedom inherent in the act of reading (…), but it also provides the multifaceted text with a respectable identity, a sense of unity in time and an existence in space.” which is seldom in the capricious hands of a solitary reader.
Silvia Hurtado GonzalezProfessor of the Department of Spanish Language of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Valladolid
This article was originally published on The Conversation. read the original.
