Henry and I: An Ethnographic Account of Men's Fiction Reading

Abstract

Men's fiction reading is explored through a study of the members of a literary society (the Henry Williamson Society) in the United Kingdom. The activity of solitary reading is linked to these readers' conceptions of self and masculinity. In particular, their accounts of the passions or rapture of reading are understood through a theory of possession. Members of the literary society regard the event of fiction reading as crucial to their life development, allowing them to experience a self that is not their own while at the same time gaining self-recognition. The essay contributes to the ethnography of reading.

Keywords:

• Subjectivity
• Masculinity
• Rapture
• Possession