Caitlin Roberts Numero Uno: Nation, Novels, and Newspapers

In Imagined Communities, author Benedict Anderson asserts that the nation started with the modern printing press. With the widespread distribution of novels and newspapers by the beginning of the 18th century, readers were able to immagine communities in what the author calls the "homogenous time." Readers shared an identity with those he read about without knowing anything personal about the subject of his newspaper article. An conscious awareness of stores, prisons, schools, and many everyday institutions sprang from widespread literacy. While a person may only have personal connection to few of these institutions within their nation, they recognize the existence of many and the the people who frequent these places. Do literacy rates support Anderson's assertions? And what about the novel and newspaper made a national consciousness possible? Why was this not possible through other forms of connection, specifically dynastic rule and church/clerical connections that Anderson references?

At the end of the 17th century, less than half of the "English" nation was literate. Anderson says this is when the idea of a nation begins. A century later, in 1800, 62% of the English population was able to read books and newspapers. If we jump across the ocean, the literacy rate was similar as Americans were just beginning to form their nation. In 1870, when many would assert that an American national consciousness had formed, over 80% of Americans were literate. In 1800, a majority of people could read in both England and America. What about the other 40% of the population? Did they have access to people who were reading books and newspapers that espoused a national consciousness? Assuming that they did, did well-read people impart their feelings of nationality? The invention of books and newspapers did not necessarily cause writers to have new ideas about nationality, but it gave readers a greater recognition of the world around them - and their own community or other communities that they wouldn't interact with personally. Anderson mentions the clerical network that connected people of faith - often a whole "nation" was connected by this one network. Did priests communicate these ideas? Were people aware that they belonged to this network? Knowledge of a higher power, like a pope or a king, would suggest such knowledge. Imagined communities existed before books and newspapers. Books and newspapers certainly helped cement these imagined communities in the consciousness of members of different nations.

Although, people before the 18th century and illiterate people after the 18th century, did not have a tangible connection to people outside of their immediate village or community, there were connections. Tales of faraway places, travelling salesmen, visiting or permanent members of the church or the king's government, wars with outside nations are just a few examples of connections to outside places. Even without being able to read, it is reasonable to believe that people felt part of an imagined community, regardless if that community is what we currently think a nation is.