Transformative readings

Traces of Salvation in Social Reading

Abstract

The following contribution intends to present an explorative and ongoing study conducted on the social reading platform Anobii. Inspired by more structured analyses and considering the high feminisation of reading, the research, guided by a composite theoretical framework, pursues the attempt to understand whether it is possible to find clues of “salvation” and appropriation of feminist ideas generated by the reading of specific texts among the comments left by the Anobii community. It is so intended to share some of the considerations that emerged from the research, driven by the general attempt to understand how reading can support a trajectory of personal development, at times subversive and transgressive of socially imposed gender norms, showing how such a cultural practice, far from being confined to an abstract and residual dimension of existence, can take root in the concreteness of biographical trajectories, sometimes determining their deviations and turning points.