Introducing: The Readee

In order to preface the question that was asked of the contributors to this issue of differences (“for whom do we read?”), it seemed necessary to introduce the notion of the readee, the addressee of reading (with all the misdirections that such an address can involve). Absent from the theories of reading, the readee is nonetheless omnipresent, encountered or silently presupposed everywhere, recognizable in historical documents and painted reading scenes.