Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Symposium papers published

I'm delighted to announce that the papers from the Iconic Books Symposia have now been published in a thematic triple issue of Postscripts. Here's the table of contents:

James W. Watts, Introduction, 1-6

William A. Graham, “Winged Words”: Scriptures and Classics as Iconic Texts, 7-22
             
Deirdre C. Stam, Talking about “Iconic Books” in the Terminology of Book History,23-38
Michelle P. Brown, Images to be Read and Words to be Seen: The Iconic Role of the Early Medieval Book, 39-66
              
S. Brent Plate, Looking at Words: The Iconicity of the Page, 67-82
    
Zeev Elitzur, Between the Textual and the Visual: Borderlines of Late Antique Book Iconicity, 83-99
     
Jacob Kinnard, It Is What It Is (Or Is It?): Further Reflections on the Buddhist Representation of Manuscripts, 101-116
M. Patrick Graham, The Tell-Tale Iconic Book,117-141
Natalia K. Suit, Muṣḥaf and the Material Boundaries of the Qur’an, 143-163
     
Timothy Beal, The End of the Word as We Know It: The Cultural Iconicity of the Bible in the Twilight of Print Culture, 165-184
     
Dorina Miller Parmenter, Iconic Books from Below: The Christian Bible and the Discourse of Duct Tape, 185-200
     
Kristina Myrvold, Engaging with the Guru: Sikh Beliefs and Practices of Guru Granth Sahib, 201-224
     
Joanne Punzo Waghorne, A Birthday Party for a Sacred Text: The Gita Jayanti and the Embodiment of God as the Book and the Book as God, 225-242
     
Yohan Yoo, Possession and Repetition: Ways in which Korean Lay Buddhists Appropriate Scriptures, 243-259
    
Karl Ivan Solibakke, The Pride and Prejudice of the Western World: Canonic Memory, Great Books and Archive Fever, 261-275
     
Philip P. Arnold, Indigenous “Texts” of Inhabiting the Land: George Washington’s Wampum Belt and the Canandaigua Treaty, 277-289
    
Jason T. Larson, The Gospels as Imperialized Sites of Memory in Late Ancient Christianity, 291-307
     
Claudia V. Camp, Possessing the Iconic Book: Ben Sira as Case Study, 309-329
    
James W. Watts, Ancient Iconic Texts and Scholarly Expertise, 331-334

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