Postprint: Books and Becoming Computational

246 Pages·2021·9.123 MB·English

by  N. Katherine Hayles

Pos tprint
Books and Becoming
Computational
N. Katherine Hayles
Postprint
THE WELLEK LIBRARY LECTURES
THE WELLEK LIBRARY LECTURES
The Wellek Library Lectures in Critical Theory are given annually at the
University of California, Irvine, under the auspices of UCI Critical Th eory.
The following lectures were given in May 2016.
UCI Critical Theory
James A. Steintrager, Director
For a complete list of titles, see page 231
N. Katherine Hayles
Postprint
Books and Becoming
Computational
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2021 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Hayles, N. Katherine, 1943– author.
Title: Postprint : books and becoming computational /
N. Katherine Hayles.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2020] |
Series: The Wellek Library lectures | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020022410 (print) | LCCN 2020022411 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780231198240 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780231198257
(trade paperback) | ISBN 9780231552554 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Book industries and trade—Technological
innovations. | Book industries and trade—Social aspects. | Digital
media—Social aspects. | Cognition. | Communication and
technology.
Classification: LCC Z278 .H39 2020 (print) | LCC Z278 (ebook) |
DDC 302.23/1—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020022410
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020022411
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover image: Digital composite
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS(cid:2)VII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS(cid:2)IX
1 Introducing Postprint 
1
2 Print Into Postprint 
41
3 The Mixed Ecologies of University Presses 
87
4 Postprint and Cognitive Contagion 
133
5 Bookishness at the Limits: Resiting the Human 
171
Epilogue: Picturing the Asemic 
189
NOTES(cid:2)191
BIBLIOGRAPHY(cid:2)211
INDEX(cid:2)219

Illustrations
2.1a and 2.1b. Jacquard cards used to produce the “Coquette” label
and the label 45
2.2. Pages from Livre de prières 46
2.3. Front view of the Paige Compositor 47
2.4. Rear view of the Paige Compositor 48
2.5. Side view of the Paige Compositor 48
2.6. Reproduction of a page from Paige’s patent application 51
2.7. Section of type disc, Lumitype phototypesetter 56
2.8. Commercial version of Lumitype/Photon 59
2.9a. Top view, fiber- optic bundle 63
2.9b, 2.9c. View of fiber-o ptic bundle input and output 63
2.10a, 2.10b. Page and image from The Wonderful World of Insects 65
2.11. Xerox DocuTech 128HLC 69
5.1. Cover image of Between Page and Screen 173
5.2a, 5.2b. Composite screen shot from Between Page and Screen 173
5.3. Screen shot showing “spinto” projection from Between Page
and Screen 176
5.4. Mirtha Dermisache, plate 1 in Selected Writings 181
5.5. Mirtha Dermisache, plate 5 in Selected Writings 184
5.6. Mirtha Dermisache, plate 12 in Selected Writings 185
6.1. Nick Sergeant, “The Human Stain” 190

Acknowledgments
T
his book has been catalyzed by two major forces: my life-
long love of books and my intellectual engagement with the
concept of cognitive assemblages. Growing up in very small
town in northeast Missouri (population 1,014), I had few resources
to satisfy my curiosity about the world, nature, and science— no
theater, no symphonies, no scientific instruments at home and
barely any at school, no stimulating lectures by public intellec-
tuals. In this preinternet era, the one resource I did have was
print books. I devoured those at home before I was ten and then
turned to the minuscule town library, which lasted until I was
twelve or so. Then puberty struck, and my interests turned else-
where for a while. Leaving that small town for college sparked
my curiosity and widened my horizons; I would often read far
into the night until the letters blurred on the page and dawn
began to break. Books for me were objects of veneration, doors
that opened onto vistas much broader, stranger, and more entic-
ing than I could experience in person. So it was inevitable, I sup-
pose, that I would one day write a book about print books.
It was not until I had developed the concept of cognitive
assemblages, however, that I was able to bring together my affec-
tion for print with my intellectual interests in computation. I
was fortunate to witness firsthand the enormous technological
changes as computation came of age, from the first mainframe