1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910462839803321

Autore

Taylor Mark C. <1945->

Titolo

Rewiring the real : in conversation with William Gaddis, Richard Powers, Mark Danielewski, and Don DeLillo / / Mark C. Taylor

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Columbia University Press, , 2013

©2013

ISBN

0-231-53164-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (339 p.)

Collana

Religion, Culture, and Public Life

Classificazione

HU 3451

Disciplina

810.9/356

Soggetti

Technology in literature

American literature - 20th century - History and criticism

American literature - 21st century - History and criticism

Technological innovations - Religious aspects

Theology in literature

Spirituality in literature

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- neχus -- 1. Counterfeiting Counterfeit Religion / Gaddis, William -- 2. Mosaics: Richard Powers, Plowing the Dark / Powers, Richard -- 3. Figuring Nothing: Mark Danielewski, House of Leaves / Danielewski, Mark -- 4. "Holy Shit!": Don DeLillo, Underworld -- 5. Concluding Unscientific Postscript: Two Styles of the Philosophy of Religion -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Digital and electronic technologies that act as extensions of our bodies and minds are changing how we live, think, act, and write. Some welcome these developments as bringing humans closer to unified consciousness and eternal life. Others worry that invasive globalized technologies threaten to destroy the self and the world. Whether feared or desired, these innovations provoke emotions that have long fueled the religious imagination, suggesting the presence of a latent spirituality in an era mistakenly deemed secular and posthuman.William Gaddis, Richard Powers, Mark Danielewski, and Don DeLillo are



American authors who explore this phenomenon thoroughly in their work. Engaging the works of each in conversation, Mark C. Taylor discusses their sophisticated representations of new media, communications, information, and virtual technologies and their transformative effects on the self and society. He focuses on Gaddis's The Recognitions, Powers's Plowing the Dark, Danielewski's House of Leaves, and DeLillo's Underworld, following the interplay of technology and religion in their narratives and their imagining of the transition from human to posthuman states. Their challenging ideas and inventive styles reveal the fascinating ways religious interests affect emerging technologies and how, in turn, these technologies guide spiritual aspirations. To read these novels from this perspective is to see them and the world anew.