The Secret Life of Books and Generations: Generational Dynamics of Reading in Bulgaria under Post-Socialism

Abstract

The paper will examine the intra- and intergenerational dynamics of reading practices in сcontemporary Bulgaria. It is based on anthropological observations and analyses made by students in the cultural studies, who have asked to observe and discuss in exam papers the reading habits of parents and peers. Their own attitudes towards reading intersect, challenge or correspond with those of the respondents, outlining a highly fragmented field of “the love of books”, which gives visibility to a strong normative model, under which heterogeneous objects of analyitcal interest flourish – hidden desires, unusual uses of books, escapist routes, internalized ideologies, etc., All of these are seen as both sustained by and in themselves sustaining the special cultural and generational dynamics of post-socialism.