Technology, Literature and Culture (Themes in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Literature and Culture)

Technology, Literature and Culture provides a detailed and accessible exploration of the ways in which literature across the twentieth century has represented the inescapable presence and progress of technology. As this study argues, from the Fordist revolution in manufacturing to computers and the internet, technology has reconfigured our relationship to ourselves, each other, and to the tools and material we use. The book considers such key topics as the legacy of late-nineteenth century technology, the literary engagement with cinema and radio, the place of typewriters and computers in formal and thematic literary innovations, the representations of technology in spy fiction and the figures of the robot and the cyborg. It considers the importance of broadcast technology and the internet in literature and covers major literary movements including modernism, cold war writing, postmodernism and the emergence of new textualities at the end of the century. An insightful and wide-ranging study, Technology, Literature and Culture offers close readings of writers such as Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, Ian Fleming, Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLillo, Jeanette Winterson and Shelley Jackson. It is an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike in literary and cultural studies, and also introduces the topic to a general reader interested in the role of technology in the twentieth century.

Technology, Literature and Culture provides a detailed and accessible exploration of the ways in which literature across the twentieth century has represented the inescapable presence and progress of technology. As this study argues, from the Fordist revolution in manufacturing to computers and the internet, technology has reconfigured our relationship to ourselves, each other, and to the tools and material we use.

The book considers such key topics as the legacy of late-nineteenth century technology, the literary engagement with cinema and radio, the place of typewriters and computers in formal and thematic literary innovations, the representations of technology in spy fiction and the figures of the robot and the cyborg. It considers the importance of broadcast technology and the internet in literature and covers major literary movements including modernism, cold war writing, postmodernism and the emergence of new textualities at the end of the century.

An insightful and wide-ranging study, Technology, Literature and Culture offers close readings of writers such as Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, Ian Fleming, Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLillo, Jeanette Winterson and Shelley Jackson. It is an invaluable resource for students and scholars alike in literary and cultural studies, and also introduces the topic to a general reader interested in the role of technology in the twentieth century.

Contents Acknowledgements 1: Introduction: The Twentieth-Century Technological Imaginary VICTORIAN TECHNOCULTURE UNCANNY TECHNOLOGY VICTORIAN SCIENCE FICTION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 2: Writing Technology: Literature and Theory MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION THE QUESTION CONCERNING TECHNOLOGY THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE TECHNOLOGY AND POSTMODERNISM DESIRING MACHINES MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, THEORYAND THE HUMAN 3: Media Technologies and Modern Culture MODERNISM AND THE CINEMA EYE TALKING ACROSS DISTANCES: RADIO MODERNISM BECKETT AND BROADCAST MEDIA 4: Cold War Technologies ELECTRIC DEATH MACHINE-WAR AND POETRY TOTAL WAR, INFORMATION AND THE SPY NUCLEAR CULTURE AND COUNTERCULTURE POSTMODERNISM, MEDIA AND THE DEATH OF THE REAL 5: Technological Texts: From Typewriters to Hypermedia TYPE-WRITERS AND TEXTS TYPING, POETRY AND SPONTANEITY DIGITAL WRITING AND HYPERTEXT 6: Robots, Cyborgs and the Technological Body ‘I WOULD RATHER BE A CYBORG THAN A GODDESS’ MACHINE-AGE MAN ROBOTS, AUTOMATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN TECHNOLOGY, IDENTITY AND THE CYBORG SUBJECT SCREENS, BODIES AND LATE TWENTIETH-CENTURY CULTURE Notes Select Bibliography Index Introduction: The Twentieth-century Technological Imaginary -- Writing Technology: Literature And Theory -- Media Technologies And Modern Culture -- Cold War Technologies -- Technological Texts: From Typewriters To Hypermedia -- Robots, Cyborgs And The Technological Body. Alex Goody. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [171]-185) And Index. This text provides a detailed exploration of the ways in which literature across the 20th century has represented the inescapable presence and progress of technology. It considers such key topics as the legacy of late-19th century technology and the literary engagement with cinema and radio * An overview of the topic of technology in literature, covering the span from late Victorian innovations, through modernism and the cold war, to computing and the internet. * Brings together a wide range of literature in a concise, student-oriented fashion.