Synopses & Reviews
Tracing a journey from the 1950s through the 1990s, N. Katherine Hayles uses the autobiographical persona of Kaye to explore how literature has transformed itself from inscriptions rendered as the flat durable marks of print to the dynamic images of CRT screens, from verbal texts to the diverse sensory modalities of multimedia works, from books to technotexts.
Weaving together Kaye's pseudo-autobiographical narrative with a theorization of contemporary literature in media-specific terms, Hayles examines the ways in which literary texts in every genre and period mutate as they are reconceived and rewritten for electronic formats. As electronic documents become more pervasive, print appears not as the sea in which we swim, transparent because we are so accustomed to its conventions, but rather as a medium with its own assumptions, specificities, and inscription practices. Hayles explores works that focus on the very inscription technologies that produce them, examining three writing machines in depth: Talan Memmott's groundbreaking electronic work Lexia to Perplexia, Mark Z. Danielewski's cult postprint novel House of Leaves, and Tom Phillips's artist's book A Humument. Hayles concludes by speculating on how technotexts affect the development of contemporary subjectivity.
Writing Machines is the second volume in the Mediawork Pamphlets series.
Review
"N. Katherine Hayle's Writing Machines is a beautiful little book." Davin Heckman Reconstruction.ws The MIT Press
Review
andquot;N. Katherine Hayle's Writing Machines is a beautiful little book.andquot;
-- Davin Heckman, Reconstruction.ws
Review
"'Writing Machines' is an enjoyable read...thought-provoking, even playful."
— Raine Koskimaa, Electronic Book Review
Review
"Without a doubt, Writing Machines is an important book...."
— Dene Grigar, Leonardo Digital Reviews
Review
"...one of the most exciting examples of technological anti-determinism I have ever read." Jan Baetens Image [&] Narrative The MIT Press
Review
Winner of the 2003 Susanne K. Langer Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Symbolic Form presented by the Media Ecology Association (MEA)
Review
In the age of the immaterial, Writing Machines compellingly argues that all forms of literature are inescapably material. Through Burdick's melding of graphic evidence and Hayles' weaving of critical and biographical perspectives, Writing Machines deftly embodies its subject while disrupting our expectations about academic publishing. Dene Grigar - Leonardo Digital Reviews
Review
"Without a doubt, Writing Machines is an important book...." Dene Grigar Leonardo Digital Reviews The MIT Press
Review
Hayles's book is one of the most exciting examples of technological anti-determinism I have ever read. The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Hayles's book is one of the most exciting examples of technological anti-determinism I have ever read." Jan Baetens Image [and#38;] Narrativeandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"N. Katherine Hayle's Writing Machines is a beautiful little book." Davin Heckman Reconstruction.wsandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"...one of the most exciting examples of technological anti-determinism I have ever read." Jan Baetens Image [and#38;] Narrativeandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"Without a doubt, Writing Machines is an important book...." Dene Grigar Leonardo Digital Reviewsandlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"In the age of the immaterial, Writing Machines compellingly argues that all forms of literature are inescapably material. Through Burdick's melding of graphic evidence and Hayles' weaving of critical and biographical perspectives, Writing Machines deftly embodies its subject while disrupting our expectations about academic publishing."--Andrew Blauvelt, Design Director, Walker Art Centerandlt;/Pandgt;
Review
N. Katherine Hayle's Writing Machines is a beautiful little book. Jan Baetens - Image [ - & - ] Narrative
Review
Without a doubt, Writing Machines is an important book... Davin Heckman - Reconstruction.ws
Synopsis
A pseudo-autobiographical exploration of the artistic and cultural impact of the transformation of the print book to its electronic incarnations.
Tracing a journey from the 1950s through the 1990s, N. Katherine Hayles uses the autobiographical persona of Kaye to explore how literature has transformed itself from inscriptions rendered as the flat durable marks of print to the dynamic images of CRT screens, from verbal texts to the diverse sensory modalities of multimedia works, from books to technotexts.
Weaving together Kaye's pseudo-autobiographical narrative with a theorization of contemporary literature in media-specific terms, Hayles examines the ways in which literary texts in every genre and period mutate as they are reconceived and rewritten for electronic formats. As electronic documents become more pervasive, print appears not as the sea in which we swim, transparent because we are so accustomed to its conventions, but rather as a medium with its own assumptions, specificities, and inscription practices. Hayles explores works that focus on the very inscription technologies that produce them, examining three writing machines in depth: Talan Memmott's groundbreaking electronic work Lexia to Perplexia, Mark Z. Danielewski's cult postprint novel House of Leaves, and Tom Phillips's artist's book A Humument. Hayles concludes by speculating on how technotexts affect the development of contemporary subjectivity.
Writing Machines is the second volume in the Mediawork Pamphlets series.
Synopsis
A pseudo-autobiographical exploration of the artistic and cultural impact of the transformation of the print book to its electronic incarnations.
Synopsis
andlt;Pandgt;Tracing a journey from the 1950s through the 1990s, N. Katherine Hayles uses the autobiographical persona of Kaye to explore how literature has transformed itself from inscriptions rendered as the flat durable marks of print to the dynamic images of CRT screens, from verbal texts to the diverse sensory modalities of multimedia works, from books to technotexts.Weaving together Kaye's pseudo-autobiographical narrative with a theorization of contemporary literature in media-specific terms, Hayles examines the ways in which literary texts in every genre and period mutate as they are reconceived and rewritten for electronic formats. As electronic documents become more pervasive, print appears not as the sea in which we swim, transparent because we are so accustomed to its conventions, but rather as a medium with its own assumptions, specificities, and inscription practices. Hayles explores works that focus on the very inscription technologies that produce them, examining three writing machines in depth: Talan Memmott's groundbreaking electronic work Lexia to Perplexia, Mark Z. Danielewski's cult postprint novel House of Leaves, and Tom Phillips's artist's book A Humument. Hayles concludes by speculating on how technotexts affect the development of contemporary subjectivity.Writing Machines is the second volume in the Mediawork Pamphlets series.andlt;/Pandgt;
About the Author
N. Katherine Hayles is Professor of English and Design/Media Arts at the University of California at Los Angeles.