
FRENCH 224: Culture and Media Forms: The First New Media
Winter Quarter 2012
MW 1:30-3:20
SLN: 13899
An 1894 story in Scribner’s prophesied the “end of books” and their replacement by “phonography.” If the prediction seems outlandish today, the sentiment that books are becoming obsolete has only gotten stronger. Yet before being threatened with extinction by “new media,” print was new media, the appearance of which in 15th century Europe transformed early modern
society, in ways equivalent to how digital media is changing our our world today.
This course introduces students to the “Printing Revolution,” and its impacts on politics, society and culture in France and Europe. Topics include:
* Conceptual shifts with movable type
* Politics of the press: censorship, intellectual freedom, and public opinion
* Effects of literacy and of new reading habits on society
* Intellectual property, and ideals of authorship and originality.
The key forms and concepts forged in the age of print continue to shape our interactions with media, even as they adapt to technological change (think of the durability of the “book” in the virtual world). Analyzing how these forms developed can shed light on the media revolution we witness today.