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Reviewer: Cherif Keramane

Textuality refers to a nebula of concepts, meanings, signs, and references surrounding a given text: interpretations, cross references, the way it is printed, contexts that may influence it, and contexts it describes. Eminently difficult to quantify, or even precisely define or count, textuality is a quality that can be termed "indecidable" [1] or a practice [2]. Admittedly, between philosophy and arcane literary analysis, the brief description of "mechanisms" at the back of the book really attracted my attention, when I received it. I dabbled in semiotics a few years ago and I have studied the connection between semiotics and multimedia, but I have seen few books dedicated to thoroughly exploring the impact of "digitalness" on textuality (and vice versa); both paradigms seem destined, in this early 21st century, to intermingle for some time. Kirschenbaum argues that the materiality of the digital media is a strong determinant of textuality, as opposed to being simply a recording means, with limited bearing on the text-media interpretation and analysis, as one would be tempted to hastily assume in separating the text from its carrier. The latter concept of materiality proves as elusive as textuality itself-perhaps indecidable-and the author deconstructs a plethora of assumptions about the computer as a neutral medium. A detailed explanation of the various "inscription" methods is thus presented in that light, with enough technical precision, but without sliding into arcane computer design lingo that would deter a wider audience. On the contrary, the concepts are explained in a manner understandable to literary and technical readers alike. Traditional personal computer inscriptions on floppy disk or hard drive structures, memory hardware, ASCII codes, common word-processor commands, and even micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) are explained with profuse examples of their influence on textuality. In this light, the way a floppy-inscribed text interpretation, for example, should be appropriately done is to apply accessible forensic tools, as simple as a hex editor, to recover invaluable contextual meaning pertaining to the authoring of that text. This analysis is no better illustrated than in three new media literary works the author chooses for further analysis and dedicated chapters, namely: Michael Joyce's Afternoon: a story and Mystery house , and William Gibson's electronic poem Agrippa . The latter has been designed with deliberate intent to emphasize the materiality of a new media product. Perhaps the impermanent nature of an ephemeral reading, viewing, or touching experience, possibly of any material incarnation of a text in the flesh, be it ink, paper, or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) gates, was rather Agrippa's salient quality. It was indeed released in a packaged box, including an art book with some print in partly fixated ink, such that it smudges on contact, and a purposely encrypted floppy disk that allows for one and only one reading of a poem. This infringement upon traditional media materiality, partly digital in this case, is a perfect context for Kirschenbaum's thoughts, explanations, theorizing, and-dare one say-discovery of novel landscapes in new media textuality. The concept of examining textuality in relation to new digital media is certainly not new, both having been there for millennia and decades, respectively, and neither is textuality in relation to textuality-think of a Ptolemaic-era Egyptian scribe explaining boustrophedon to a group of baffled novices. I recall an honoris causa reception speech by Umberto Eco at Grenoble University, as early as 1997, where the world-renowned semiotics expert addressed changing perspectives on writing with word processors. Literature on textuality in the digital world abounds [3,4], although it is not emphasized in this book-such a concept being rather a premise quickly surpassed. What is examined is materiality in syzygy with textuality, as the two can hardly be separated from now on. The way inscription mechanisms are used to alter digital materiality is precisely the boundary where textuality is enhanced, and Kirshenbaum's theorizing, constantly zigzagging across, defines it even further. As such, the book is a manifesto of textuality ab inscriptio, and, undoubtedly, a starting point of prolific cross-functional research in new media studies. New perspectives in digital humanities, digital media, literary criticism, digital privacy, bibliography, and social studies pop up on every page. The methodology displayed in this book, applied to the new intermingling of textuality, materiality, and inscription, with the added impact of tera-scale corpora, distributed storage, and networking protocols alone, should provide enough matter for new thought strategies in new media research. This is a necessary and undoubtedly fundamental book for researchers in new media studies, text criticism, and semiotics, and is appropriate for all serious readers interested in computers, the digital world, and modern literature. Online Computing Reviews Service