SSR on McKenzie’s “The Book as an Expressive Form”

Vita Dadoo Lomeli

Dr. Churchill

English 393: Word Art

1 February 2016

Secondary Source Report: “The Book as an Expressive Form” by D.F. McKenzie

McKenzie, D.F. “The Book as an Expressive Form.” The Book History Reader. Ed. David

Finkelstein and Alistair McCleery. New York: Routledge, 2002. 27-38. Print.

1. Thesis: “My purpose in these lectures (27) … is simply to consider anew what bibliography us and how it relates to other disciplines…The principle I wish to suggest as basic is simply this: bibliography is the discipline that studies texts as recorded forms, and the process of their transmission, including their production and reception… It seems to me that it would now be more useful to describe bibliography as the study of the sociology of texts (29).”
   1. McKenzie suggests that the definition of bibliography should be reshaped to account for the importance of history in understanding this discipline. McKenzie emphasizes that the signs in a book are not “simply iconic or indexical” (27), but rather meaningful and essential in understanding how texts are perceived and disseminated.
2. Article structure

• McKenzie begins her essay by quoting Sir Walter Greg’s definition of bibliography as “pieces of paper or parchment covered with certain written or printed signs. With these signs [the bibliographer] is concerned merely as arbitrary marks; their meaning is no business of his (27).” McKenzie references Greg to show how this definition does not account for the importance of history in studying signs in books. Thus, McKenzie proposes a new approach to bibliographical studies that takes into consideration the relationship between signs and their meaning. McKenzie describes bibliography as “the study of the sociology of texts (29).”
• McKenzie defines texts “to include verbal, visual, oral and numeric data” in different forms and mediums (29). He builds on this definition by presenting the etymological roots of the word “text” and their relationship with weaving to show “that the writing of words is like weaving of threads (30).” McKenzie does so to disregard the idea that texts are only arbitrary signs. McKenzie goes on to define sociology using Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer’s definitions. Spencer posits, “Sociology has to recognize truths of social development, structure, and function.” McKenzie relies on this idea to “direct us to consider the human motives and interactions which texts involve at every stage of their production, transmission, and consumption (30).”
• McKenzie introduces the notion of “sociology of texts” to show how previous definitions of bibliography have “obscured the role of human agents and virtually denied the relevance to bibliography of anything we might now understand as the history of the book (31).” He suggests that printed texts “have an expressive function in conveying meaning” and “unite a wide audience in its interdisciplinary study.
• McKenzie uses “The Intentional Fallacy” by W.K. Wimsatt Jr. and M.C. Beardsley” to show the importance of considering history and author intention in our effort to derive meaning from signs. In this book, Beardsley and Wimsatt Jr argue that a reader should disregard author intent when analyzing a piece of literature. McKenzie does a close reading of the book’s epigraph – a quotation borrowed from William Congreve – to show the importance author’s diction, word arrangement on paper, and noun capitalization in understanding the meaning of the epigraph for modern readers and readers in the 18^th century – period in which the quote was originally written. McKenzie does so to argue that “the history of the book…must be a history of misreadings (35)” and further highlight the importance of history, as well as “human motive and intention (35)” in the study of bibliography.
• “To return now to my larger theme: Greg’s definition of what bibliography is would have it entirely hermetic. By admitting history, we make it secular (37).” McKenzie concludes by acknowledging that texts are not only an extension of an author’s intention, but belong to a greater historical agenda.
• Rhetorical moves
• Clear statement of purpose in the beginning (“My purpose in these lectures… is simply to consider anew what bibliography us and how it relates to other disciplines”).
• Good theoretical foundation (Ex: providing Sir. Walter Greg’s definition at an early stage and gradually deconstructing it in order to develop his statement of purpose),
• Great close reading of “The Intentional Fallacy’s” epilogue to show the relationship between author intent and meaning and placing the content of books (printing, word content, amongst others) in a historical context.