Eigenvalue: On the Gradual Contraction of Media in Movement; Contemplating Media in Art [Sound Image Sense] (Thinking Media) - Hardcover

Hanjo Berressem

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501335189 ISBN 13: 9781501335181

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018

Synopsis

Eigenvalue: Contemplating Media in Art provides the first history of 'eigenvalue' by building an important bridge between the hard and the soft sciences. Originally a mathematical term, Hanjo Berressem applies Eigenvalue, which roughly translates to proper value, to the media studies discipline for the first time, providing a philological history and line of development across the sciences through to contemporary cultural studies. Berressem's groundbreaking work is organized into 2 books, with the first book broken down into six topical areas - mathematics, physics, cybernetics, biology, literary studies, cultural studies. The second book discusses the place of eigenvalues in sound, light and literature, specifically, Alvin Luciers experimental composition I am Sitting in a Room, Bill Morrisons eight-minute experimental film Light is Calling and the literary works of Thomas Pynchon. Berressem's thought-provoking philology is an important reference point for readers seeking an authoritative introduction to a term that connects other key ideas in contemporary debate.

About this title

About the Author

Hanjo Berressem is Professor of American Literature and culture at the University of Cologne, Germany. He is the author of Pynchon's Poetics: Interfacing Theory and Text (1992) and Lines of Desire: Reading Gombrowicz's Fiction with Lacan (1998). His publications revolve around the fields of American literature, post-structuralism, media studies, and literature and science.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501335189
• ISBN 13: 9781501335181
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224