Difference between revisions of "Textual Closure (Formal)"
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[[Image:Shakespeare end.jpg|thumb|right|The semantic marker of textual closure in a folio of Shakespeare's works.]] | [[Image:Shakespeare end.jpg|thumb|right|The semantic marker of textual closure in a folio of Shakespeare's works.]] | ||
| − | Formal closure | + | Formal closure was a property the printed text exhibited, at different pre-modern moments, insofar as the text was a complete and unified whole, bound in the format of the printed book. The contemporary spread of the computer's digital text has opened texts to change and modification, which has profound consequences for the textual work as an aesthetic entity. |
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| + | Historically, the closed text was at its peak in the early modern period of the 18th and 19th century systems of literary printing in Europe (Hesse, 28). When printed and bound within the confines of the covers of the book, the text was largely sealed from change, a quality which, during the Romantic period, elevated the author to a status of renown, and canonized the novel as timeless. | ||
Revision as of 06:45, 3 May 2010
Formal closure was a property the printed text exhibited, at different pre-modern moments, insofar as the text was a complete and unified whole, bound in the format of the printed book. The contemporary spread of the computer's digital text has opened texts to change and modification, which has profound consequences for the textual work as an aesthetic entity.
Historically, the closed text was at its peak in the early modern period of the 18th and 19th century systems of literary printing in Europe (Hesse, 28). When printed and bound within the confines of the covers of the book, the text was largely sealed from change, a quality which, during the Romantic period, elevated the author to a status of renown, and canonized the novel as timeless.
Yet the widespread contemporary adoption of personal computers has recently shown textual closure to be a contingent historical phenomenon, tied to the regime of print. For the computer user, digital text becomes a fluid, accessible form of data, easily copied or modified. For better or worse, the textual effect is to dramatically lower the barrier to inscription, opening up discourse and overwriting the author.
References
Genette, Gerard. "Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation". Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. 1997.
Hesse, Carla. "Books in Time." From Nunberg, Geoffrey (ed) "The Future of the Book". University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1996. Print.
Kittler, Friedrich. "Gramophone, Film, Typewriter". Stanford University Press: Stanford. 1999. Print.
Vismann,Cornelia. "Files: Law and Media Technology". Stanford University Press: Stanford. 2008. Print.
