The Gutenberg Elegies (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Sven Birkerts
- First Published: 1995
- Type of Work: Essays
- Genres: Nonfiction, Essays
- Subjects: Communication, Books, Reading, Popular culture, Mass media, Television or television broadcasting, Computers, Printing
In choosing the title The Gutenberg Elegies, Sven Birkerts immediately announces the tone as well as the subject of his collection of essays on, as the subtitle specifies, “the fate of reading in an electronic age.” Throughout his series of critical analyses and autobiographical tales, he nostalgically mourns the decay of print culture and the low ebb of what had been a centuries-long ascendancy of literacy.
Yet he is luckier than most elegists: While he laments, he feels a heartbeat. His beloved subject, though weak, still lives. Birkerts’ task, then, is not only to...
[The entire page is 2094 words long]
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