Characterizations of Texts

A number of literary critics have tried to characterize the cultural qualities of the book. The eminent novelist Vladimir Nabokov, for example, described the “marble finality of an immaculate typescript” (Nabokov 2000:14). Others have described book-mediated texts as:

• Bounded (Ryan 2001:201);
• Durable (Stallabrass 2003:14);
• Fixed (Bolter 2001:4);
• Finite (Drucker 2004:257); and
• Finished (Ong 1982:131)

In contrast computer-mediated textuality has been characterised as:

• Changeable (Hayles 1999:26);
• Ephemeral (Holtzman 1997: 128 & Truss 2003:181);
• Ethereal (Holtzman 1997:128);
• Evanescent (Birkerts 1994: 122);
• Fleeting (Spender 1995:14);
• Flexible (Bolter 2001:3);
• Fluid (Guertin 1998);
• Kaleidoscopic (Ryan 2001:214);
• Multiple (Glazier 2004:67);
• Plastic (Lanham 1993:xi);
• Provisional (Birkerts 1994: 157);
• Transient (Stallabrass 2003:14);
• Vibrant (Glazier 2004:67); and
• Volatile (Lanham 1993:x).