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

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.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Why Hypertext 3.0? Acknowledgments 1. Hypertext: An Introduction Hypertextual Derrida, Poststructuralist Nelson? The Definition of Hypertext and Its History as a Concept Very Active Readers Vannevar Bush and the Memex Forms of Linking, Their Uses and Limitations Linking in Open Hypermedia Systems: Vannevar Bush Walks the Web Hypertext without Links? The Place of Hypertext in the History of Information Technology Interactive or Ergodic? Baudrillard, Binarity, and the Digital Books Are Technology, Too Analogues to the Gutenberg Revolution 2. Hypertext and Critical Theory Textual Openness Hypertext and Intertextuality Hypertext and Multivocality Hypertext and Decentering Hypertext as Rhizome The Nonlinear Model of the Network in Current Critical Theory Cause or Convergence, Influence or Confluence? 3. Reconfiguring the Text Reconfiguring the Text The In MemoriamWeb New Forms of Discursive Prose—Academic Writing and Weblogs Problems with Terminology: What Is the Object We Read, and What Is a Text in Hypertext? Visual Elements in Print Text Animated Text Stretchtext The Dispersed Text Hypertextual Translation of Scribal Culture A Third Convergence: Hypertext and Theories of Scholarly Editing Hypertext, Scholarly Annotation, and the Electronic Scholarly Edition Hypertext and the Problem of Text Structure Argumentation, Organization, and Rhetoric Beginnings in the Open Text Endings in the Open Text Boundaries of the Open Text The Status of the Text, Status in the Text Hypertext and Decentrality: The Philosophical Grounding 4. Reconfiguring the Author Erosion of the Self How the Print Author Differs from the Hypertext Author Virtual Presence Collaborative Writing, Collaborative Authorship Examples of Collaboration in Hypertext 5. Reconfiguring Writing The Problematic Concept of Disorientation The Concept of Disorientation in the Humanities The Love of Possibilities The Rhetoric and Stylistics of Writing for E-Space; or, How Should We Write Hypertext? Hypertext as Collage Writing Is This Hypertext Any Good? Or, How Do We Evaluate Quality in Hypermedia? 6. Reconfiguring Narrative Approaches to Hypertext Fiction—Some Opening Remarks Hypertext and the Aristotelian Conception of Plot Quasi-Hypertextuality in Print Texts Answering Aristotle: Hypertext and the Nonlinear Plot Print Anticipations of Multilinear Narratives in E-Space Narrative Beginnings and Endings Michael Joyce's afternoon Stitching Together Narrative, Sexuality, Self: Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl Quibbling: A Feminist Rhizome Narrative Storyworlds and Other Forms of Hypertext Narratives Computer Games, Hypertext, and Narrative Digitizing the Movies: Interactive versus Multiplied Cinema Is Hypertext Fiction Possible? 7. Reconfiguring Literary Education Threats and Promises Reconfiguring the Instructor Reconfiguring the Student Learning the Culture of a Discipline Nontraditional Students: Distant Learners and Readers outside Educational Institutions The Effects of Hypermedia in Teaching and Learning Reconfiguring Assignments and Methods of Evaluation A Hypertext Exercise Reconceiving Canon and Curriculum Creating the New Discursive Writing From Intermedia to the Web—Losses and Gains Answered Prayers, or the Academic Politics of Resistance What Chance Has Hypertext in Education? Getting the Paradigm Right The Politics of Hypertext: Who Controls the Text? Can Hypertext Empower Anyone? Does Hypertext Have a Political Logic? The Marginalization of Technology and the Mystification of Literature The Politics of Particular Technologies Technology as Prosthesis The Political Vision of Hypertext; or, the Message in the Medium Hypertext and Postcolonial Literature, Criticism, and Theory Infotech, Empires, and Decolonization Hypertext as Paradigm for Postcoloniality Forms of Postcolonial Amnesia Hypertext as Paradigm inPostcolonial Theory The Politics of Access Who Can Make Links, Who Decides What Is Linked? Slashdot: The Reader as Writer and Editor in a Multiuser Weblog Pornography, Gambling, and Law on the Internet—Vulnerability and Invulnerability in E-Space Access to the Text and the Author's Right (Copyright) Is the Hypertextual World of the Internet Anarchy or Big Brother's Realm? Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
George P. Landow is a professor of English and art history at Brown University.

Review :
"Landow['s]... presentation is measured, experiential, lucid, moderate, and sensible. He merely points out that the concept 'hypertext' lets us test some concepts associated with critical theory, and gracefully shows how the technology is contributing to reconfigurations of text, author, narrative, and (literary) education." - Postmodern Culture "Worth reading, whether one's initial mood is enthusiasm, skepticism, or simple curiosity." - Contemporary Sociology "A bold and enthusiastic prediction of the impact of hypertext on literature and pedagogy." - Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature "In this insightful and readable volume, Landow explores the relationship between contemporary literary and social theory and the latest advances in computer software." - Voice Literary Supplement"