Customer Reviews

Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Parallax: Re-visions of Culture and Society)

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Landow squeezes 20 pages of insight into over 400 pages of some of the most convoluted and repetitive writing to ever be labeled 'critical theory.' This book has little to do with technology or hypermedia as a form of communication. He reminds us, and again suggests, and then points out, and later reminds us again that hypermedia is different from books and periodicals printed on paper. This insight, delivered through meandering and pointless prose, often obscured by subordinate 'critical' statements, is not much of an insight. Using work done in the 1980s and 90s Landow suggests a great reconfiguring of narrative, of writing, and of authors (or authorship- but that's not clear). Much, much better books covering far more ground are "Convergence Culture" by Henry Jenkins and "Radiant Textuality" by McGann.

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.