Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization

By George P. Landow

Book Overview

George Landow's widely acclaimed Hypertext was the first book to bring together the worlds of literary theory and computer technology. Landow was one of the first scholars to explore the implications of giving readers instant, easy access to a virtual library of sources as well as unprecedented control of what and how they read. In hypermedia, Landow saw a strikingly literal embodiment of many major points of contemporary literary theory, particularly Derrida's idea of "de-centering" and Barthes's conception of the "readerly" versus "writerly" text.

From Intermedia to Microcosm, Storyspace, and the World Wide Web, Landow offers specific information about the kinds of hypertext, different modes of linking, attitudes toward technology, and the proliferation of pornography and gambling on the Internet. For the third edition he includes new material on developing Internet-related technologies, considering in particular their increasingly global reach and the social and political implications of this trend as viewed from a postcolonial perspective. He also discusses blogs, interactive film, and the relation of hypermedia to games. Thoroughly expanded and updated, this pioneering work continues to be the "ur-text" of hypertext studies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801882575
• ISBN13: 9780801882579
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.4" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, challenging, and geeky

As more writers create and distribute their work in hypertext it's important to think about how dramatically that is changing the humanities, arts, and culture in general. Landow guides us through this process, drawing from his experience as a professor of English and art history at Brown University. A long time user of hypermedia in teaching and writing, he observes that the worlds of literary theory and computer hypertext have increasingly converged over the past couple decades. This is a brilliant, challenging, and somewhat dense book, and will appeal to the geek in anyone.