Book, Text, Medium
Cross-Sectional Reading for a Digital Age
Published on 19. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-108-81968-8 (ISBN)
Description
Book, Text, Medium: Cross Sectional Reading for a Digital Age utilizes codex history, close reading, and language philosophy to assess the transformative arc between medieval books and today's e-books. It examines what happens to the reading experience in the twenty-first century when the original concept of a book is still held in the mind of a reader, if no longer in the reader's hand. Leading critic Garrett Stewart explores the play of mediation more generally, as the concept of book moves from a manufactured object to simply the language it puts into circulation. Framed by digital poetics, phonorobotics, and the rising popularity of audiobooks, this study sheds new light on both the history of reading and the negation of legible print in conceptual book art.
Reviews / Votes
'Garrett Stewart has produced a richly inclusive, nimbly attentive, celebration of the many dimensions in which reading is played out, across and between its different media and instruments, ear, eye and hand. It brilliantly diagnoses in the present conditions of reading, not a demise but an ongoing reprise of the many historical incarnations of 'bookhood'.' Steven Connor, University of Cambridge 'Dazzlingly brilliant. ... a great book [... of] grand ambitions and stunning achievements ... an amazing accomplishment.' N. Katherine Hayles, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles '... provide[s] an elevated treat for audiences with an appreciation for reading and literature. Recommended.' C. Huffaker, Choice '... there is a great deal to enjoy ...' John Cayley, Critical InquiryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
345 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-81968-8 (9781108819688)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
01/2021
Cambridge University Press
€105.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
01/2021
Cambridge University Press
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Garrett Stewart is James O. Freedman Professor of Letters at the University of Iowa. He has written five books each on literary analysis, art history, and film theory, most recently The One, Other, and Only Dickens (2018), Transmedium (2018), and Cinemachines (2020). Stewart was elected in 2010 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Content
Prospectus; Intro\Retro; Part I. The Hold of the Codex: 1. Bibliographics; 2. Platformatics; Part II. The Grip of Inscription: 3. Reading In; 4. Reading Out; Part III. The Give of Medium: 5. Phrasing the Sayable; 6. Between Language and Text; Parting Words.