5.0501 Rs: Computers and Literature (4/44)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 5 Dec 1991 17:41:47 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0501. Thursday, 5 Dec 1991.
(1) Date: 4 December 1991, 18:38:28 EST (7 lines)
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: Computers and literature, continued.
(2) Date: Wed, 04 Dec 91 19:20:49 CST (8 lines)
From: Marcus Smith <SMITHM@LOYNOVM>
Subject: Re: 5.0498 Rs: Computers in Literature
(3) Date: Thu, 05 Dec 91 09:40:22 EST (10 lines)
From: Joseph Raben <JQRQC@CUNYVM>
Subject: Vonnegut's experience with computers
(4) Date: Thu, 5 Dec 91 10:07:25 EST (19 lines)
From: jsgor@conncoll.bitnet
Subject: Computers in Literature
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 4 December 1991, 18:38:28 EST
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: Computers and literature, continued.
One shouldn't forget the obvious, Arthur Clarke, in {2001}. Way back
beyond that was a sci-fi/horror book called {Donovan's Brain} by Curt
Siodmak, which gave a horrifying picture of what might happen if one fed
a disembodied, not-quite-artificial intelligence. Roy Flannagan
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 91 19:20:49 CST
From: Marcus Smith <SMITHM@LOYNOVM>
Subject: Re: 5.0498 Rs: Computers in Literature
An interesting and possible useful essay is Thomas Pynchon's "Is It O.K. to
Be a Luddite?" NY Times Book Review, October 28, 1984, 1, 40-41. Pynchon's
fiction is also conscious of computers and their impact on late twentieth c.
life. Sounds like an interesting project. Good luck.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------34----
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 91 09:40:22 EST
From: Joseph Raben <JQRQC@CUNYVM>
Subject: Vonnegut's experience with computers
Rather than analyzing literature, the computer that Vonnegut writes
about was supposed to record on tape the operations of a mechanic
running a lathe. He actually saw this while working in a plant in
upstate New York (Westinghouse? GE?). That experience is the kernel of
_Player Piano_, which develops into a general attack on corporate
America, corporate academia, and American society in general.
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------25----
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 91 10:07:25 EST
From: jsgor@conncoll.bitnet
Subject: Computers in Literature
Computers in literature: Michael Rodemer might want to take
a look at Russell Hoban's "Riddley Walker" and its memories of a
"Puter Leat." I don't know whether a post-nuclear-holocaust
novel counts as science fiction or not.
Best,
John Gordon