The Image of a Polish, Czech and Slovak Bookworm in the Internet Discourseon Books and Reading Cover Image

The Image of a Polish, Czech and Slovak Bookworm in the Internet Discourseon Books and Reading
The Image of a Polish, Czech and Slovak Bookworm in the Internet Discourseon Books and Reading

Author(s): Bożena Rejakowa
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie
Keywords: Internet discourse on books and reading; interaction; convention; stereotype; behavioural standards; bookworm

Summary/Abstract: The study is concerned with the construal of a linguo-cultural image of a bookworm in the Internet discourse on books and reading: this is the Polish mól książkowy, the Czech knihoRol, and the Slovak knihomol’. The respective stereotypes are shaped through linguistic signs and structures, interpreted against the practices used in blogs and memes. In the messages projected by Internet bookstores the mental images are entrenched and modified in such a way as to respond to marketing needs, without the readers realizing they are being influenced. In interaction, an important role is played by interpretations of the behaviour of a typical bookworm, as well as the process of accommodating the behaviours of individuals to a specific set of “bookworm mental features”. One’s own features and preferences are compared with those of: the bookworm as a collector and a book owner, the bookworm as a compulsive buyer, the bookworm as a planner, and the bookworm as a loner. The users of Polish, Czech, and Slovak online bookstores identify themselves with these types, frequently without realizing how much they are influenced in their perception of the world by the bookstores’ marketing strategies, which attribute specific features to their customers. These features are to propagate, through immitation, to wider readership.

  • Issue Year: VII/2016
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 121-131
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English