Sven Birkerts
Author of The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
About the Author
Sven Birkerts teaches at Mount Holyoke College and the Bennington Writing Seminary. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Image credit: Harvard University
Series
Works by Sven Birkerts
An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th Century Literature (A Nonpareil Book, #59) (1987) 66 copies, 1 review
Agni : No. 52 (2000) 5 copies
AGNI 64 3 copies
Josif Brodskij (intervista) 2 copies
AGNI 57 2 copies
AGNI Magazine (62) 2 copies
AGNI 82 1 copy
AGNI - Issue #84 1 copy
Agni 82 issue 82 2015 1 copy
Agni, No. 85 1 copy
Associated Works
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 458 copies, 3 reviews
Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club: Second Thoughts on the Electronic Revolution (1996) — Contributor — 83 copies, 1 review
Design Culture: An Anthology of Writing from the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design (1997) — Contributor — 42 copies
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 30 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1951-09-21
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Pontiac, Michigan, USA
- Places of residence
- Arlington, Massachusetts, USA
- Education
- University of Michigan
Cranbrook School - Occupations
- editor
author
literary critic
essayist - Relationships
- Birkerts, Gunnar (father)
Members
Reviews
Reading Life: Books for the Ages by Sven Birkerts
Reading about books and the reading of books is one of the joys of my own reading life. In this collection of essays Birkerts, in his own personal and elegant way, shares commentaries on books that are "signposts" of his reading life. A great book for all who enjoy remembering their first readings and later connections with favorite books whether classics or just personal favorites.
A series of contemplative essays that demonstrate the enticing prose of Sven Birkerts. I have long enjoyed his literary criticism and this book shares some of the same attraction for readers like me. This is a great book to dip into from time to time just to relish the wonderful prose and the disparate insights.
An interesting and helpful reflection on how reading literature is a different experience than the kind of reading we do online. Discusses the depth and self-reflection required to really engage with good novels, and the different way that orients a reader to the world. I don't share his alarm for all text electronic, but I do agree that reading fiction requires more commitment and stamina from a reader than does reading online. Overall, I enjoyed the thoughtful essays and appreciated the opportunity to think about how I interact with text in all its forms.… (more)
Many of these essays felt like responses to writing prompts given at the beginning of class.
Lists
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Statistics
- Works
- 43
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 1,822
- Popularity
- #14,116
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 24
- ISBNs
- 36
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 5