electronic book review

digital futures of literature, theory, criticism, and the arts

materiality

Against Animal Authenticity, Against the Forced March of the Now: a review of Nicole Shukin’s Animal Capital

In one half of a pair of critical reviews looking at recent titles in animal studies, Karl Steel examines Nicole Shukin's Animal Capital (Shukin reviews Steel in the other half). In particular, Steel looks at Shukin's biopolitical framework, and considers how that framework challenges not only our conception of what constitutes the animal, but also--and more to the bone--our conception of the capacity of fields like animal studies.

The Cybernetic Turn: Literary into Cultural Criticism

Joseph Tabbi reviews the essay collection Simulacrum America.

Printed Privileges

Carsten Schinko on Niklas Luhmann's Analogue Loyalty.

Re-Clearing the Ground: A Response to Linda Brigham

Mark Hansen responds to Linda Brigham's review of Embodying Technesis: Technology Beyond Writing.

Interferences: [Net.Writing] and the Practice of Codework
Materiality and Matter and Stuff: What Electronic Texts Are Made Of
John Cayley responds in turn

John Cayley replays what is literal and literary in the digital.

Introduction: ceci n’est pas un texte
Ebooks, Libraries, and Feelies

Countering the persistent popular notion that electronic literature is just reading the classics under glass, Daniel Punday advocates for greater innovation, and more authorial autonomy, at the level of book design. Insisting on "authors' rights to design the interface through which readers encounter their books," Punday argues that digital book publishing should strive to emulate the medial status of games, "which remain messy individuals."

Computers, Cut-ups, and Combinatory Volvelles