Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)

This article is about the book by William Gibson. For other uses, see Agrippa.

Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)
Image constructed for this work by a graphic artist. It shows a decayed book-shaped object delicately wrapped in mesh cloth.
AuthorWilliam Gibson
Cover artistDennis Ashbaugh
SubjectMemory
GenrePoetry
PublisherKevin Begos Jr.
Publication date
1992
Media typeArtist's book
OCLC48079355

Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) is a work of art created by science fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992.[1][2][3][4] The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical electronic poem by Gibson, embedded in an artist's book by Ashbaugh.[5] Gibson's text focused on the ethereal, human-owed nature of memories retained over the passage of time (the title referred to a Kodak photo album from which the text's memories are taken). Its principal notoriety arose from the fact that the poem, stored on a 3.5" floppy disk, was programmed to encrypt itself after a single use; similarly, the pages of the artist's book were treated with photosensitive chemicals, effecting the gradual fading of the words and images from the book's first exposure to light.[5] The work is recognised as an early example of electronic literature.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference stg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Jonas, Gerald (August 29, 1993). "The Disappearing $2,000 Book". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
  3. ^ Robertson, Adi (July 12, 2012). "New contest hopes to crack the code around William Gibson's poem 'Agrippa'". The Verge. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  4. ^ Bell, Chris (November 26, 2013). "Cicada 3301: the internet code-breaking mystery that has the world baffled". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. (2002). Burns, Edward (ed.). "Textual Studies and First Generation Electronic Objects". Text: An Interdisciplinary Annual of Textual Studies. 14. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press: 15–16. ISBN 978-0-472-11272-2.