Prado’s anthology views the internet’s impact on our brains and thinking styles. Articles express a
gamut of concerns. For example, Bruce McNaughton explains that he uses the newest gadgets and media but lacks the compulsive fetishistic fanaticism of younger users. Editor C. G. Prado fears ‘netness’ when he writes, “people are being subtly and not so subtly changed by use of the internet and social media.” (xiii) Prado sees danger in the ‘sociopsychological ‘effects of web obsession. We see it in the media with the BBC’s popular Sherlock obsessively responding to text messages concerning cases . Mark Kingswell discusses our obsession with interfaces more so than with actual content; Khadija Coxon explores the ‘attention economy,’ and faces fears that, “social media degenerates apparently real relationships, by over-orienting users to virtual worlds.” (41); and Juan Bermudez considers the dangers of instant gratification by the web eroding our sense of self control. Alex Leitch discusses the attractions/problems of exclusive spaces and labor cults that fixate people on sites, and work-related topics. In the end, Prado and company believe social media has not been properly analyzed and may have unknown and uncalculated consequences. Paul Lauter's Canons and Contexts revises how we see the literary (and other canons) of Western culture. Calling for a wide ranging re-evaluation of how we see literary works and through what lens. Lauter re-configures the work of literature, and re-imagines it for the cultural studies era. What constitutes a great book changes when we consider the culture that brought us that literary work. A revolutionary book in its time. Landow's book explains the relationship between text, postmodern culture and the book as an art object inthe digital age. An engaging re-evaluation of how we read. Today people hypertext frequently, so the idea isn't quite so strange anymore. But it is interesting how the practice became normalized in 20 years. Landow's book aided that process. Bhandari and Melber's Art/Work is the best work on working in the arts I have read. I thank my mentor and friend Sarrita Hunn for telling me about this valuable book about the art life. Steven Watson's Strange Bedfellows tells the story of the first avant-garde in American art and letters from 1910-1920. The cast includes people instrumental to New York's armoury show and the many popular artists and writers in the city at the time. A great read about the arts. Here I will post brief entries about popular culture, art, and texts that have been productive.
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Stuart Lenig
Recent Work Archives
May 2018
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