A Short Media History of English Literature

"This study, however, is quite unparalleled as a comprehensive, concise and also eminently readable account of English literature with a consistent focus on mediality and materiality. I have been considering whether to

adopt this book for my introduction to literary history. The welcome fact that its digital

emanation is available in open-access is inviting and its many qualities merit the plan

– but I fear that it may be too complex for the relatively clean literary slate of an

undergraduate class. This complexity is a direct result of Berensmeyer's focus on

materiality and form – and it is an increasingly important point to make in an age that

too frequently seems to reduce literature to a set of ideological positions." Eckart Voigts in: Anglistik 1/2024