Peter Mendelsund explores reading as visual imagination in new book

Peter Mendelsund's book "Che cosa vediamo quando leggiamo" (What We See When We Read), published by Corraini Edizioni in 2020, investigates the visual and imaginative processes triggered by reading. The volume, described as an illustrated essay on the phenomenology of visual perception and mental processes, argues that reading is an act of imagination where readers fill gaps left by authors. Mendelsund draws on philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein ("The proposition is a picture of reality") and Oliver Sacks ("We do not see with our eyes; we see with our brain"). He notes that memory is made of imagery and imagery of memory, and questions whether one can train to imagine better, like drawing. The book references authors such as Roland Barthes, Italo Calvino, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jean Piaget. Mendelsund, a graphic designer and art director, compares reading to performing a musical piece, where the reader is both performer and spectator. The 452-page book, priced at €19.50 (ISBN 9788875708337), features a rhythmic graphic layout with synesthetic effects.