Question

How had a large number of new readers among children, women, and workers increased in nineteenth-century Europe? Explain with examples.

Answer 1

1. As primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, children became an important category of readers.
2. A children’s press, devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France in 1857. This press published new works as well as old fairy tales and folk tales. The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales gathered from peasants.
3. Women became important as readers as well as writers. Penny magazines were especially meant for women, as were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping. When novels began to be written in the nineteenth century, women were seen as important readers. Some of the best-known novelists were women.
4. The Industrial Revolution created a large working-class population in cities. Workers' associations and political parties wanted to educate and organise them. Cheap books, newspapers, and pamphlets were published to spread awareness and information. For example, in England, cheap chapbooks were sold to workers with stories, poems, and useful information. Night schools were set up for workers so they could learn reading and writing after work, helping increase literacy among them.