Introduction

Abstract

I first began thinking about the ideas developed in this book around seven years ago. Amazon’s Kindle e-reader had just been released and there were rumours that Apple was about to expand its revivified empire with the release of a new “slate” device, a tablet that would become the iPad. Working in an English department and writing about such things and talking about them at conferences, you regularly hear variations on the theme of the travesty of the end of the book. Responses range from denial, to the stoic, to the wailing and gnashing of teeth. People who’ve heard your papers have a tendency to send follow-up emails. There are often capital letters and multiple exclamation marks.