The Locations and Means of Literary Reading

The means and locations of reading are becoming increasingly significant. This is not only reflected in the academic world but also in the press. This chapter addresses the question of whether the locations and means of reading have changed in the past ten years since the advent of the e-reader. Have the places and manner of reading become more flexible? Has reading “on the go” replaced traditional locations of literary reading? Is more literature being read on mobile devices or is reading on paper still preferred over digital means—or are current readers hybrid readers? These are the questions that underpin this chapter. A connected series of experiments was conducted that seeks to explore the question of locations and means of contemporary acts of reading. It is hoped that the results that emerge may point the way to more qualitative and quantitative studies on this increasingly significant topic.