Sven Birkerts Summary

In the following review, Sharratt exposes several assumptions that inform Birkerts's analysis of reading in The Gutenberg Elegies. Major historical transformations can be imagined most poign... Read more

In the following review, Rehder praises Birkerts's powers of persuasion in The Gutenberg Elegies, heeding the emphasis on the personal aspect of his thought. Second only to sex, the human mi... Read more

In the following review, Stephenson challenges Birkerts's thesis in The Gutenberg Elegies, addressing the impact of electronic media on the literary arts. "Where am I when I am invol... Read more

In the following essay, Birkerts speculates about the implications of (he transition from page-centered (book) to screen-centered (on-line) communication in contemporary society. I would need the f... Read more

In the following review, Stall highlights the degree of ambiguity surrounding the relationship between society and technology, explaining the titular allusion of Tolstoy's Dictaphone. Slowly... Read more

In the following review of An Artificial Wilderness, Hall praises Birkerts's "urgent, serious, energetic voice" for celebrating non-American writers and books. Sven Birkerts sh... Read more

In the following review of An Artificial Wilderness, Parini illuminates Birkerts's critical technique with respect to contemporary, academic criticism. "The arrow of modern life and t... Read more

In the following review, Benedict describes Birkerts's attitude toward poetry in The Electric Life as intellectually challenging yet provocatively open to debate. Sven Birkerts—who wo... Read more

In the following review, Holmstrom concentrates on a question of excellence that he believes is implied by Birkerts's arguments in American Energies. After a reader turns the last page of Sv... Read more