Magic and loss: the Internet as art

Virginia Heffernan “melds the personal with the increasingly universal in a highly informative analysis of what the Internet is—and can be. A thoroughly engrossing examination of the Internet’s past, present and future” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) from one of the best living writers of English prose.This book makes a bold claim: The Internet is among mankind’s great masterpieces—a massive work of art. As an idea, it rivals monotheism. But its cultural potential and its societal impact often elude us. In this deep and thoughtful book, Virginia Heffernan reveals the logic and aesthetics behind the Internet, just as Susan Sontag did for photography and Marshall McLuhan did for television.Life online, in the highly visual, social, portable and global incarnation rewards certain virtues. The new medium favors speed, accuracy, wit, prolificacy and versatility and its form and functions are changing how we perceive, experience and understand the world. In “sumptuous writing, saturated with observations that are simultaneously personal, cultural and strikingly original” (The New Republic), Heffernan presents “a revealing look at how the Internet continues to reshape our lives emotionally, visually and culturally” (The Smithsonian Magazine). “Magic and Loss is an illuminating guide to the Internet...it is impossible to come away from this book without sharing some of Heffernan’s awe for this brave new world” (The Wall Street Journal).