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one reader for his performance, Pliny noted that “he showed an appropriate
versatility in raising or lowering his tone. His remarkably pleasant voice was
another advantage, and was improved by his modesty, which always adds charm to
a reading. I don’t know why, but shyness suits an author better than confidence.”
Pliny suggested a number of reasons why reading in public was a beneficial
exercise. Celebrity was no doubt a very important factor, but there was also the
delight of hearing one’s own voice. Moreover, reading publicly was, in his view,
the best way for an author to acquire an audience. In fact, reading publicly was in
itself a rudimentary form of publishing. As Pliny had explained, public readings by
the author were meant to bring the text not only to the public but back to the author
as well.
Throughout Europe, the nineteenth century was the golden age of author’s
readings. In England the star was Charles Dickens. Always interested in amateur
theatrics, Dickens used his histrionic talent in readings of his own work. These,
like Pliny’s, were of two kinds: reading to his friends to polish his final drafts ; and
public readings, performances for which he became famous in later life. This was,
in part, what Dickens’s audience came for, and what brings the audiences of today
to public readings: to watch the writer perform, not as an actor, but as a writer; to
hear the voice the writer had in mind when a character was created; to match the
writer’s voice to the writing.
