Political Expectation for Readers as Consumers

On BookReview Journals in China during the 1930s

Abstract

　This paper aims to clarify what kind of changes were intended to be made

to the qualitative forms of reading in China during the 1930s, when the practice

of reading expanded quantitatively. For this purpose, from the perspective of

the history of reading that has been pioneered by Western historians like Roger

Chartier, the author reconfigured the social expectations for reading practices

based on the discourse analysis of book review journals, which were successively

published in the 1930s. As a result of this analysis, in contrast to the view

of previous studies that politics was only an external factor to the reading practice

stipulated by “market discipline,” a multi-tiered relationship between reading

and politics inherent in the discourse of the time would be revealed.

　　First, as the scope of must-read books became less obvious with the popularization

of publishing, readers were soon expected to discern and read “good

books.” The book review journals were the media functioning to guide readers

for this end, and not a few readers actively responded to the expectations by

subscribing to magazines. Then, in the context of the war and revolution of the

time, it was no wonder that political expectations were also placed on this

active readership. They expected to selectively read only those books that

would directly lead to political practice, arguing against the notion of intrinsic

value of reading under the name of “reading for its own sake.” The Nationalist

regime eventually shared this political expectation for reading but did not

exclude the idea of “reading for its own sake.” The political code of reading,

which strongly criticized its depoliticization, was passed on and institutionalized

after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.