Libri e reciprocità. Aspetti simbolici della circolazione libraria tra Cicerone e Tacito

In this ‘late age of printing’, while we still feel part of a book culture, other media have taken the place of books in important respects. The change has affected not only the objects used for writing or reading or communicating, but also the frames of meaning hitherto associated with these practices. This paper sets out to discuss some types of meaning attaching to books in Latin literature from Cicero to Tacitus. Reconstructing the cultural meanings of books in literary representations from the Latin world could prove helpful by raising questions about our ability to orient ourselves in the present period of change.