Vox: MARIA TAKOLANDER
The Verity La Forum was conducted by Alec Patric from July 2011 to December 2011
Forum Question: A New Archaeology
The demarcation between electronic and print literature, for writers at any rate, has been blurred for quite a while. I mean, I’ve been working in e-form—directly onto a computer—for almost two decades, which means I’ve also been reading in e-form for that long too. So I’m not too alarmed by the shift to an e-format. We don’t have a problem with having electronic libraries for our music. I’m sure we’ll also get used to having electronic libraries for our books.
I guess some people fear that the death of the material book means the death of literature, but storytelling and poetry has a long history—one that precedes the printed book—and will, I’m sure, have a long future. It’s also my experience that the pleasure of reading comes from a “virtual” experience, which is certainly not contingent upon the medium of the printed book, which I forget about when I become lost in the reading experience. As for the emergence of new forms (rather than new standards), why not? Playfulness and multiplicity are surely key to a healthy culture.
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