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Book Title

Tolstoy's Dictaphone

Subtitle
Technology and the Muse
Author 1
Edited by Sven Birkerts
Body
When the great Russian writer Tolstoy was first offered the use of a brand new invention called the Dictaphone, he refused it, saying that it was sure to be "too dreadfully exciting" and would distract him from his literary endeavors.

For this provocative launch of the Graywolf Forum series, Sven Birkerts invited a number of literary writers to tell him how they were reacting to the technological innovations of our day. Do the "dreadful excitements" promised by a digital future cause us to forfeit our time-honored cultural traditions for dubious gain? Or will the electronic millennium usher in an unprecedented age of interconnectedness and opportunities for wider communication?

In the tradition of the Graywolf Annuals, this first Graywolf Forum presents a wide range of responses from contemporary creative writers.

Contributors:

Sven Birkerts
Harvey Blume
Daniel Mark Epstein
Jonathan Franzen
Thomas Frick
Alice Fulton
Albert Goldbarth
Carolyn Guyer
Gerald Howard
Wendy Lesser
Ralph Lombreglia
Carole Maso
Askold Melnyczuk
Robert Pinsky
Wulf Rehder
Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Tom Sleigh
Mark Slouka
Paul West

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List Price
$16.00
ISBN
ISBN
978-1-55597-248-6
Format
Format
Paperback
Publication Date
Publication Date
Subject
Pages
Pages
266
Series
Trim Size
Trim Size
6 x 9
Keynote
"Ultimately, these poets, novelists, editors, artists, and teachers raise fundamental questions regarding values, and challenge us to discard the toxic in electronic fare and embrace the life-enhancing."—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Sven  Birkerts
Credit: Mara Birkerts
Sven Birkerts is the author of Changing the Subject and nine previous books, including The Other Walk,The Gutenberg Elegies, The Art of Time in Memoir, and My Sky Blue Trades. He is the director of the Bennington Writing Seminars, and he edits the journal AGNI, which is based at Boston University. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts
 
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