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Start Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
Credibility Bookcases and “Bookiness”: The Gendering of Embodied Texts
In 2020, the “credibility bookcase” became a “Zoom accessory”: screenshots were judged, and titles scrutinized, with Twitter accounts dedicated to the act of “ranking” said rooms (Hess 2020). This emphasis on the physicality of one’s ownership (and the performance of correct readership) already exists in social media traditions such as the Instagram shelfie but was amplified by the sense of shared physical presence during the pandemic. Such moments are a reminder that the anticipated demise of the physical book (popular in the early decades of the twenty-first century) was overstated, and certainly reading trends show that ebooks and physical books can productively co-exist (Zhang and Kudva 2013). However, the gendering of the physical book has been amplified by the pressures of material performativity: Ian Bogost’s recent Atlantic article on how ebooks lack “bookiness” represents the latest iteration of this debate (Bogost 2021). The gendering of the book, and the associated shame of consumption, reserves “credibility” for books not associated with genres marketed to, and frequently written by, women. We argue that book “embodiment”--the representation of its physicality, or credibility, on social media--is directly tied to embedded cultural affiliations between certain genres and the gender that is traditionally assumed to write and consume those genres. The implications of the relationship between gender, genre, and consumption show that the concept of “bookiness” is inherently tied to hegemonic ideas of masculinity and privilege.
Works Cited
Bogost, Ian. 2021. “Ebooks Are an Abomination.” The Atlantic. September 14, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2021/09/why-are-ebooks-so-terrible/620068/.
Hess, Amanda. 2020. “The ‘Credibility Bookcase’ Is the Quarantine’s Hottest Accessory.” The New York Times, May 1, 2020, sec. Arts. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/arts/quarantine-bookcase-coronavirus.html.
Zhang, Yin, and Sonali Kudva. 2013. “Ebooks vs. Print Books: Readers’ Choices and Preferences across Contexts.” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 50 (1): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14505001106.
Credibility Bookcases and “Bookiness”: The Gendering of Embodied Texts
Credibility Bookcases and “Bookiness”: The Gendering of Embodied Texts
In 2020, the “credibility bookcase” became a “Zoom accessory”: screenshots were judged, and titles scrutinized, with Twitter accounts dedicated to the act of “ranking” said rooms (Hess 2020). This emphasis on the physicality of one’s ownership (and the performance of correct readership) already exists in social media traditions such as the Instagram shelfie but was amplified by the sense of shared physical presence during the pandemic. Such moments are a reminder that the anticipated demise of the physical book (popular in the early decades of the twenty-first century) was overstated, and certainly reading trends show that ebooks and physical books can productively co-exist (Zhang and Kudva 2013). However, the gendering of the physical book has been amplified by the pressures of material performativity: Ian Bogost’s recent Atlantic article on how ebooks lack “bookiness” represents the latest iteration of this debate (Bogost 2021). The gendering of the book, and the associated shame of consumption, reserves “credibility” for books not associated with genres marketed to, and frequently written by, women. We argue that book “embodiment”--the representation of its physicality, or credibility, on social media--is directly tied to embedded cultural affiliations between certain genres and the gender that is traditionally assumed to write and consume those genres. The implications of the relationship between gender, genre, and consumption show that the concept of “bookiness” is inherently tied to hegemonic ideas of masculinity and privilege.
Works Cited
Bogost, Ian. 2021. “Ebooks Are an Abomination.” The Atlantic. September 14, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2021/09/why-are-ebooks-so-terrible/620068/.
Hess, Amanda. 2020. “The ‘Credibility Bookcase’ Is the Quarantine’s Hottest Accessory.” The New York Times, May 1, 2020, sec. Arts. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/arts/quarantine-bookcase-coronavirus.html.
Zhang, Yin, and Sonali Kudva. 2013. “Ebooks vs. Print Books: Readers’ Choices and Preferences across Contexts.” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 50 (1): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.14505001106.
Bio
Abigail Moreshead is a PhD student in the Texts and Technology program at the University of Central Florida specializing in digital humanities. Her research focuses on book studies and gendered labor in textual production and knowledge creation. Abigail currently serves as assistant editor of the James Joyce Literary Supplement and social media manager for the Johnson's Dictionary Online project.
Anastasia Salter is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Florida, and the Director of Graduate Programs and the PhD in Texts & Technology for the College of Arts and Humanities. Dr. Salter is the author most recently of A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy (University of Mississippi Press, with Mel Stanfill, 2020), Adventure Games: Playing the Outsider (Bloomsbury, with Aaron Reed and John Murray, 2020). Dr. Salter is currently a member of the board of directors of the Electronic Literature Organization and the HASTAC Steering Committee, and previously served on the board and as president of the North American Simulation and Gaming Association.