As a graduate student, this class has really opened my eyes to things I’ve never really even thought about. Despite working so closely with literature and books, I never once took a step back to see how books take on different forms and mediums. I now have a greater understanding and a broader perspective on what a book is, not just what I thought it was or what I was told it is. But to me, the thing that really struck me was the remediated fears. Questions that come up at the dawn of a new revolutionary age have already been asked and will continue to be asked.

I remember my first day when we were all asked what brought us to this class, and I remember answering that it was because I was scared of AI and where that direction in the future seemed to be taking us, which frightened me. From what I’ve seen and continue to see is how this new tool is almost like a Pandora’s box, and we really have no idea where it can go and how we use it, but learning that this fear was, in fact, not a new one at all, was almost shocking. And the fact that the book itself was also a sort of disruptor was even more shocking. That quote from Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame de Paris really struck me: “Ceci tuera cela.” “This will kill that,” and now I feel like I, too, stood there like Claude Frollo, realizing the death of something and the birth of something new. But that was before this class. Because we examined and questioned everything about the book as an object, interface, all different kinds of media, I feel more comfortable and optimistic, as this has happened before, and it led to a renaissance, industrialization, and political change, etc…In other words, the written word is integral to us, in whatever form it is delivered to us.

I now have a completely different understanding of a poetry book I read before and after this class. But during a chapter in Borsuk’s book, I was reminded of it and really excited to use it in my final project. I’m happy to have taken this class and that it had this impact on me. I don’t think I’ll ever see a book the same without deconstructing it.