Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing

Kirschenbaum, an English professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, presents a well-researched, scholarly history of how early electronic typewriters, word processors, and microprocessor-based computers affected literary writers, the act of writing, and writers' plots, characters, literary devices, and stories from 1964 to 1984. The book includes numerous examples of how specific authors thought about, wrote about, experimented with, and used early word-processing machines. Authors whose word-processing experiences or philosophies are mentioned include Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Rice, and Amy Tan, among others. While some were stricken with concerns about perfectionism and automation, others (particularly in science fiction) embraced the ability to collaborate and the time-saving printing and revision functions. Kirschenbaum takes an academic approach to his subject, with lots of research into the mechanics of now-obsolete technology (IBM's Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST), WordStar, Kaypro, etc.). The book is more scholarly than entertaining, but will also appeal to lay readers interested in the impact of technology on culture. (May)