ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the writing and design of KUU, a hybrid illuminated novel, and its function as a hermeneutically sealed location for meaning-making. The work is situated in literary and design contexts, revealing the precedents and concepts used in its creation. Biosphere 2, a self-contained ecosystem, becomes a metaphor for the interconnected hybrid book that uses both text and design to create loops of meaning and self-representation. The novel’s “bibliosphere” is explored through four concepts: designed literature, book objects, multi-voiced narratives, and hermeneutically sealed ecosystems. Each concept is followed with an account of the ways it is realized in KUU.
