The development and social role of the Book Clubs in Germany

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370361
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: Takeoka Kenichi 鹿児島大学, 法文教育学域法文学系, 教授 (30216874)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ドイツ文学 / ブッククラブ / 文学仲介 / 書籍販売 / 出版 / 読書 / 大衆教育 / 新中間層

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research deals with the inexpensive book selling organizations, “Book Clubs“ in Germany. Its developmental process since the second half of the nineteenth century, their organization and methods of activity, the published books, and the conflict with traditional book selling were considered through the careful analysis of secondary literature and catalog magazines of the representative Book Clubs. Thereby it became clear that the Book Clubs have played a vital role in the “democratization of reading“, and that the Book Clubs have formed an important alternative to traditional book selling that were lacking consideration for people of the middle and lower classes. This study introduces new and important fundamental material for the study of the Book Clubs in Germany, and shows a model of literary research by way of the Book Clubs.

Free Research Field

ドイツ文学