The Mechanized Future of Literature

In a new novel, Tom McCarthy calls forth the age of the emergence of the modern: machines, communication, philosophy, art and literature. The early 20th century and its strange new static of technology is the catalyst for his hero to thrive or to self destruct. It was a time when the telephone replaced the telegraph, when writers such as Joyce, Kafka, T S Eliot and the like, introduced glimpses of modern "technologics". McCarthy discusses the genesis of these literary themes in an insightful  article in the Guardian titled Technology and the novel, from Blake to Ballard.

For me, the article's subtext brings to mind the current debate raging over paper books vs, e-books; the essence of how we read, it asks the question: Is the medium the message?; and do we care about the future of the print publishing industry?

McCarthy's new book, C, has just been long listed for the Man Booker Prize.