E-readers and the death of the book: or, new media and the myth of the disappearing medium

Abstract

The recent emergence of e-readers and e-books has b
 rought the death of the book to the centre of 
 current debates on new media. In this article, we a
 nalyse alternative narratives that surround the 
 possibility of the disappearance of print books, do
 minated by fetishism, fears about the end of 
 humanism, and ideas of techno-fundamentalist progre
 ss. We argue that, in order to comprehend 
 such narratives, we need to inscribe them in the br
 oader history of media. The emergence of new 
 media, in fact, has often been accompanied by narra
 tives about the possible disappearance of 
 older media: the introduction of television, for in
 stance, inspired claims about the forthcoming 
 death of film and radio. As a recurrent narrative s
 haping the reception of media innovation, the 
 myth of the disappearing medium helps us to make se
 nse of the transformations that media 
 change provokes in our everyday life.