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GERM 658 / COMS 611 the history of text technologies 
This course will serve as an introduction into a variety of theoretical approaches to studying the long history of technologies of textuality, from early mineralogical surfaces through medieval manuscript culture, mass print culture, to contemporary electronic forms of (hyper)textuality. In addition to our weekly theoretical readings, we will be looking at textual artifacts ranging from books of hours, incunables, ballads, gift books, letters, modernist art books, radio plays, and electronic literature, where we will try to address the following questions: • What are the different communicative practices that have surrounded writing since its inception? • How does knowledge of the artifactual nature of language, its flux and fixity, tell us something about the meaning of texts across time? • In what ways can attention to the materiality of texts foreground visual and aural experience alongside, or as an integral part of, the act of reading? • What is the place of literature (from Latin "littera") within the study of technologies of the letter? Open to students from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds for whom textuality plays a central evidentiary role (literature, cultural and communication studies, history, art history, anthropology, etc.), this seminar will serve as a hands-on laboratory for studying the history of social practices of written communication. |