Computer scientist and composer Holtzman offers a readable and winning introduction to the theoretical and aesthetic principles that will (he claims) inform artistic expression in new media such as virtual reality. Abstract art, contemporary linguistics, and 20th-century classical music are the art forms that, according to Holtzman, link up with these new media. In lucid (if slightly repetitive) chapters, he surveys Saussure's and Chomsky's structuralist approach to language, Kandinsky's evolution toward purely abstract painting, and the efforts of modern composers such as Schoenberg and Boulez to break away from traditional musical systems with 12- tone serial composition techniques. He argues that these disparate intellectual movements share a basis in abstraction: They all concentrate on developing formal ``grammars'' to describe the functioning of their ``languages,'' be they visual or musical or linguistic. Holtzman follows this with an acute sketch of the development of computers and the search for artificial intelligence, emphasizing the basic similarity between computational theory and the formal grammars of linguistics, art, and music. He's at his best discussing various ways in which artists and composers have tried to incorporate the computer into their creative processes and where such ``collaborative'' efforts may lead; unfortunately, his discussion of virtual reality and its possibilities is much shallower, frequently falling back on the tiresome hype of the hacker world. In his later chapters Holtzman argues for what he calls a ``digital aesthetic,'' but his ideas remain vague, as do the quasi-mystical links he tries to draw between structuralist theories and Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Holtzman preaches the virtues of structuralist aesthetics and computerized art with the fervor—and occasionally the didacticism- -of a prophet; in the end, he provides one of the most insightful considerations of the aesthetics of digital culture to date.
Pub Date: June 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-262-08228-4
Page Count: 460
Publisher: MIT Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
