The edge of the precipice : why read literature in the digital age? / edited by Paul Socken. - Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, (c)2013. - 1 online resource (viii, 232) p

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction: A Return to the Educated Imagination / Technology, Science, and the Book. Why I Read War and Peace on a Kindle (and Bought the Book When I Was Done) / Reading in a Digital Age: Notes on Why the Novel and the Internet Are Opposites, and Why the Latter Both Undermines the Former and Makes It More Necessary / Solitary Reading in an Age of Compulsory Sharing / Paul Socken -- Michael Austin -- Sven Birkerts -- Drew Nelles. Physical and Philosophical Approaches. A World without Books? / Language Speaks Us: Sophie's Tree and the Paradox of Self / Vincent Giroud -- Mark Kingwell. Poetic Readings. The End of Reading / Cold Heaven, Cold Comfort: Should We Read or Teach Literature Now? / Fragments from an Entirely Subjective Story of Reading / A Very Good Chance of Getting Somewhere Else / Alberto Manguel -- J. Hillis Miller -- Lori Saint-Martin -- Katia Grubisic. Literature and the World (Part Two). Thinking Deeply in Reading and Writing / Don't Panic: Reading Literature in the Digital Age / Why Read against the Grain? Confessions of an Addict / Keith Oatley -- Ekaterina Rogatchevskaia -- Gerhard van der Linde.

Can a case be made for reading literature in the digital age? Does literature still matter in this era of instant information? Is it even possible to advocate for serious, sustained reading with all manner of social media distracting us, fragmenting our concentration, and demanding short, rapid communication? In The Edge of the Precipice, Paul Socken brings together a thoughtful group of writers, editors, philosophers, librarians, archivists, and literary critics from Canada, the U.S., France, England, South Africa, and Australia to contemplate the state of literature in the twenty-first century. Including essays by outstanding contributors such as Alberto Manguel, Mark Kingwell, Lori Saint-Martin, Sven Birkerts, Katia Grubisic, Drew Nelles, and J. Hillis Miller, this collection presents a range of perspectives about the importance of reading literature today.



9780773589872 9780773541788


Books and reading--Social aspects.
Books and reading--Technological innovations.
Literature and technology.
Literature and the Internet.


Electronic Books.

PN56 / .E344 2013