{"product_id":"the-matter-of-the-page-shane-butler-9780299248246","title":"The Matter of the Page: Essays in Search of Ancient and Medieval Authors","description":"\u003cp\u003eAncient and medieval literary texts often call attention to their existence as physical objects. Shane Butler helps us to understand why. Arguing that writing has always been as much a material struggle as an intellectual one, \u003ci\u003eThe Matter of the Page\u003c\/i\u003e offers timely lessons for the digital age about how creativity works and why literature moves us.\u003cbr\u003e Butler begins with some considerations about the materiality of the literary text, both as a process (the draft) and a product (the book), and he traces the curious history of \"the page\" from scroll to manuscript codex to printed book and beyond. He then offers a series of unforgettable portraits of authors at work: Thucydides struggling to describe his own diseased body; Vergil ready to burn an epic poem he could not finish; Lucretius wrestling with words even as he fights the madness that will drive him to suicide; Cicero mesmerized by the thought of erasing his entire career; Seneca plumbing the depths of the soul in the wax of his tablets; and Dhuoda, who sees the book she writes as a door, a tunnel, a womb. Butler reveals how the work of writing transformed each of these authors into his or her own first reader, and he explains what this metamorphosis teaches us about how we too should read.\u003cbr\u003e All Greek and Latin quotations are translated into English and technical matters are carefully explained for general readers, with scholarly details in the notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Shane Butler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0299248240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780299248246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Wisconsin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/06\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 168\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.55lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2011","brand":"Shane Butler","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48086467215615,"sku":"9780299248246","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ac19631e-28a3-4201-bef1-6d7f76127d6f.jpg?v=1769094833","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-matter-of-the-page-shane-butler-9780299248246","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}