Okoliczności lekturowego dzieciństwa współczesnych seniorów na przykładzie wspomnień słuchaczy Uniwersytetu Trzeciego Wieku

Abstrakt

The reading childhood of today’s senior citizens. As reflected in memories of University of the Third Age members

The survey was conducted among 240 members of the University of the Third Age at the University of Wrocław. The respondents were people living in the city, aged at least 60 and not working anymore. 211 interviews were conducted; 194 of them featuring 164 women and 30 men were subsequently analysed. The studied group was homogeneous on account of the subjects’ place of residence 96.3% lived in Wrocław and fairly homogeneous in terms of level of education 61.6% had university level education, while 30.5% had high school level education. The respondents referred to situations accompanying their reading experiences as well as restrictions in access to books. What they remember very clearly is their hunger for books and barriers in the access to books and education. The impact of books in their childhood was significant as in their milieu there were no other media that could have competed with books. What appears to be aunique characteristic of the reading childhood of today’s senior citizens later reflected in their life as adult readers is the integrative function of books and the communal, familial nature of reading.