Books, Materials, Texts: A threefold foreword

Abstract

This foreword introduces to the focus of this volume, i. e. the intricate interconnectedness of the book as a material medium, its specific materiality, and the texts it is said to ‘contain’. Drawing from philosophers and literary scholars such as Michel Foucault, Sybille Krämer, Marshall McLuhan, Jerome McGann and others, it sketches the horizon whithin which the contributions of this volume are situated, arguing that it is essential for literary scholars to consider the material embodiment of texts.