Bibliophobia is the fear or hatred of books.
History
In his 1999 Matthews lecture at
Birkbeck College,
Tom Shippey discussed bibliophobia in the
Middle Ages. This arose when the literate professions, such as the clergy and
, would exploit and terrify the
illiterate masses by their command of texts such as religious and legal documents. He illustrated this with examples from Medieval English literature such as
The Pardoner's Tale.
In popular culture
See also
Further reading
