At the start of the 18th century, literary "characters" referred as much to letters and typefaces as it did to persons in books. However, this text shows how, by the 19th century, readers used transactions with characters to accommodate themselves to newly-commmercialized social relations.
Exploring the perception of literary characters as "people" with whom readers might spend time and empathize, scholar Deidre Shauna Lynch shows how readers came to use transactions with book characters to help readers understand and distinguish themselves from others in the beginnings of consumer society. 8 photos.
