ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 analyzes J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst’s S. (2013). S. is an experimental novel with yellowing pages, handwriting in the margins and inserts between the pages. I demonstrate how the work connects a thematic preoccupation with (lost) memory and identity with a celebration of “the aesthetics of bookishness” and literary tradition, presenting the book as a tangible object and a space of intimate interaction between two readers. However, while S. is thus staged directly as a “celebration of the analog,” I point out how it is also connected to the logics of digitalization. Drawing on Henry Jenkins’ concept of the modern convergence culture, I discuss how S. deeply grounded in the logics of new digital media at the levels of production and promotion as well as narrative structure and reception.
