„Philologica Jassyensia”, an XII, nr. 1 (23), 2016, p. 139–149 Interculturalia Reading in the Digital Age Dana BĂDULESCU  Key-words: (e)-reading, (e)-book, paper, print, screen, digital age 1. A COST Action More than a year ago in November I was looking for a project I could join and I found a COST “action” called “Evolution of reading in the age of digitisation”. According to their official website, COST is the longest-running European framework which supports trans-national cooperation among specialists across Europe. COST was founded in 1971, and ever since then it has been contributing to narrowing the gap between science, policy makers and society at large. The stated goal of our E-READ action is “to improve scientific understanding of the implications of digitization, hence helping individuals, disciplines, societies and sectors across Europe to cope optimally with the effects”. Therefore, the purpose of the project is re-thinking the entire concept of reading and the factors that influence it – from texts and platforms used to technologies enabling reading, including printed books, e-readers and computers. E-READ will also deal with the various factors that triggered the transition to reading in the digital media. At the meeting in Ljubljana, which took place in April 2015, the provisos that the medium impacts the understanding of long texts, and that some empirical studies have shown that certain properties of tablet computers have a negative impact on the emotional aspect of reading were thrown into question. My enthusiasm for this state of the art approach to reading and books in a present which is replete with digital devices and applications was instantaneous. “Of course”, I thought to myself, “I’ll be engaged in research that will make me and a lot of other people get to grips with a process which will completely change our reading habits. We will look into the history of print reading and into the present of e-reading in order to account for what is being lost, what is being gained, what should be preserved, and what should be adapted”. I have always been fascinated with the process of reading, and I have given a lot of thought to the self-conscious approach to writing itself as reading in the fiction of Poe, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Joyce, Borges, Lodge, Eco, and so many others, and in the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and, as I have recently discovered, Edward Hirsch’s writing on poetry. In the essay “On Books and Reading”, published in Issue no. 7/2015 of the Journal of Romanian Literary Studies, I argued that the  “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Romania. Provided by Diacronia.ro for IP 92.81.176.168 (2017-06-07 21:45:45 UTC) BDD-A24473 © 2016 Institutul de Filologie Română „A. Philippide”