{"product_id":"metamedia-alexander-starre-9781609383596","title":"Metamedia: American Book Fictions and Literary Print Culture After Digitization","description":"Does literature need the book? With electronic texts and reading devices growing increasingly popular, the codex is no longer the default format of fiction. Yet as Alexander Starre shows in \u003ci\u003eMetamedia\u003c\/i\u003e, American literature has rediscovered the book as an artistic medium after the first e-book hype in the late 1990s. By fusing narrative and design, a number of \"bibliographic\" writers have created reflexive fictions--metamedia--that invite us to read printed formats in new ways. Their work challenges ingrained theories and beliefs about literary communication and its connections to technology and materiality. \u003ci\u003eMetamedia\u003c\/i\u003e explores the book as a medium that matters and introduces innovative critical concepts to better grasp its narrative significance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Combining sustained textual analysis with impulses from the fields of book history, media studies, and systems theory, Starre explains the aesthetics and the cultural work of complex material fictions, such as Mark Z.Danielewski's \u003ci\u003eHouse of Leaves \u003c\/i\u003e(2000), Chip Kidd's \u003ci\u003eThe Cheese Monkeys\u003c\/i\u003e (2001), Salvador Plascencia's \u003ci\u003eThe People of Paper \u003c\/i\u003e(2005), Reif Larsen's \u003ci\u003eThe Selected Works of T. S. Spivet\u003c\/i\u003e (2009), and Jonathan Safran Foer's \u003ci\u003eTree of Codes\u003c\/i\u003e (2010). He also broadens his analysis beyond the genre of the novel in an extensive account of the influential literary magazine \u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's Quarterly Concern\u003c\/i\u003e and its founder, Dave Eggers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For this millennial generation of writers and publishers, the computer was never a threat to print culture, but a powerful tool to make better books. In careful close readings, Starre puts typefaces, layouts, and cover designs on the map of literary criticism. At the same time, the book steers clear of bibliophile nostalgia and technological euphoria as it follows writers, designers, and publishers in the process of shaping the surprising history of literary bookmaking after digitization. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alexander Starre\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1609383591\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781609383596\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Iowa Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/15\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 316\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.10lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 5.70w x 0.90d","brand":"Alexander Starre","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44069467914495,"sku":"9781609383596","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_42a1568d-5424-4bc3-b40d-983a10f661cc.jpg?v=1685424878","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/metamedia-alexander-starre-9781609383596","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}