Lyckliga läsare

Litteraturtidskriften som livsstilscoach

Abstract

Happy Readers. The Literary Magazine as a Lifestyle Coach

In contemporary popular literary culture (Collins 2010), the circulation of representations of reading as a kind of lifestyle is increasing rapidly. I will highlight this phenomenon by way of a discussion of two new literary magazines, the Swedish Books & Dreams, and the British The Happy Reader. Here, reading becomes a lifestyle fully imbedded in contemporary ”designer culture” (Julier 2013), and is metonymically linked to, amongst other things, interior design, cooking, and travel. Which reading practices are encouraged in the magazines, and in what ways do they challenge (or confirm) traditional ideas of the forms, functions, and values of reading?
Keywords: , , ,