The Mirror, the Lamp and the Cave: Robert Coover

Robert Coover on literature
in a Computer Automated
Virtual Environment
Pre-Romantics, literature was usually understood as a mirror,
reflecting the real world, in some kind of mimesis; but for the
Romantics, writing was more like a lamp: the light of the writer’s
inner soul spilled out to illuminate the world. Later came the
cataclysm of Modernism and Post-Modernism and most recently,
the digital revolution, which is changing the way we read.
The great American novelist, Robert Coover, has been at the
cutting edge of this development since the 1980s, first with his
Hypertext courses at Brown University and more recently with The
Cave Writing Workshop, which he describes as “an advanced
experimental electronic writing workshop, moving off the screen
to explore the artistic potential of text, sound, and narrative
movement in immersive three-dimensional virtual reality.”
Coover’s uncompromising experimentalism has made him a writer’s writer and a hero to those who
feel smothered by traditional narrative modes and crave new ways of seeing and reading.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear a major writer discussing his pioneering work.
1.00pm, Pavilion Theatre, E12 & E10 (Concession)

book_nowRobert Coover on Literature in a Computer-Automated Virtual Environment

Pre-Romantics, literature was usually understood as a mirror, reflecting the real world, in some kind of mimesis; but for the Romantics, writing was more like a lamp: the light of the writer’s inner soul spilled out to illuminate the world. Later came the cataclysm of Modernism and Post-Modernism and most recently, the digital revolution, which is changing the way we read.

The great American novelist, Robert Coover, has been at the cutting edge of this development since the 1980s, first with his Hypertext courses at Brown University and more recently with The Cave Writing Workshop, which he describes as “an advanced experimental electronic writing workshop, moving off the screen to explore the artistic potential of text, sound, and narrative movement in immersive three-dimensional virtual reality."

Coover’s uncompromising experimentalism has made him a writer’s writer and a hero to those who feel smothered by traditional narrative modes and crave new ways of seeing and reading.Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear a major writer discussing his pioneering work.

Sunday September 11th
1.00pm
Pavilion Theatre
€12 & €10 (Concession)
Book Now