Bibliography   » Reviews

The following citations and quotations are from reviews and/or pre-publication press coverage of Agrippa. Caveat emptor: because of limited access to the book, “review” is in this case a fuzzy-logic concept. Some press coverage is clearly based just on pre-publication announcements and some on actual acquaintance with the artifact. But the status of others is blurry.

Wei, Lilly. “Dennis Ashbaugh at Marisa del Re – Painting Exhibition, New York, New York.”

Art in America 81.10 (Oct 1993): 130.
Retrieved 21 Nov. 2005.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n10_v81/ai_14607803

Review of Ashbaugh exhibit roughly contemporaneous to the release of Agrippa, including valuable descriptions of his paintings. (more…)

Unofficial Cyberpunk FAQ

Unofficial FAQ for the Usenet Newsgroup alt.cyberpunk” 1 Jan. 1993. Retrieved 29 Sept. 2005. http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/cyberpunk_faq_old.html

Section 7 of this FAQ discusses Agrippa and includes excerpts from press coverage of the work at the time. (more…)

Rasenberger, Jim. “Book Lark.”

Vanity Fair May 1992: 124.

Short note accompanied by photos of William Gibson and of the first prototype for the Agrippa book. (more…)

Leaman, Jessie. “Picks.”

New York Press 9-15 Dec. 1992: [page unknown] (more…)

Princenthal, Nancy. “Artist’s Book Beat.”

The Print Collector’s Newsletter 23, no. 2 (May-June 1992).

Article offers a thorough description of Agrippa and locates the object in the context of other experimental, electronic texts. (more…)

Gehr, Richard. “Here Today.”

Village Voice 29 Dec. 1992:93.

This article provides a thorough description of the work, as well as a summary of its broadcast and reception. (more…)

Rose, Barbara. “Art and Science Team up.”

Art & Auction June 1992: 32.

Article offers a substantial analysis and description of Dennis Ashbaugh’s artwork. (more…)

Von Ziegesar, Peter. “You Can Read This Book Only Once.”

Kansas City Star 11 Dec. 1992: F5.

Description of an exhibition at the Kansas City Art Institute organized around the Agrippa broadcast. (more…)

Schwenger, Peter. “Agrippa, or, The Apocalyptic Book.”

South Atlantic Quarterly Fall 1993: 617-626.

This issue of South Atlantic Quarterly is devoted to discussions of cyberculture, and features a literary analysis of Agrippa. (more…)

Quittner, Josh. “When Art Resembles National Security” (Sidebar).

Newsday 16 June 1992. Retrieved 31 Aug. 2005. http://eserver.org/cyber/newsday.txt

News article about technologically-enabled texts, including Agrippa; also features a sidebar about the specific code used to generate Agrippa’s self-encrypting text. (more…)

Quittner, Josh. “Read Any Good Webs Lately?”

Newsday 16 June 1992. Retrieved 31 Aug. 2005: 63. http://eserver.org/cyber/newsday.txt

News article about technologically-enabled texts, including Agrippa; also features a sidebar about the specific code used to generate Agrippa‘s self-encrypting text. (more…)

Quittner, Joshua. “‘Webs’: Avant-Garde Storytelling On Computer.”

St Louis Post-Dispatch 24 June 1992: 1F.

Article discusses the expectations and considerations surrounding hypertext at the time of Agrippa‘s release, including comments from George Landow. (more…)

Martin, Guy. “Read It Once.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. Esquire Magazine May 1992: 33.

Article provides a brief preview and review of the project, including a detailed description of the book itself. (more…)

Lowenthal, Alex. “A Tale of Three Futurists.”

Retrieved 31 Aug. 2005. http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/future/j7/LOWENTHAL.pdf

Article includes a biography of Gibson with a description of Agrippa. (more…)

Killheffer, Robert. “The Shape of Books to Come: a Collaborative Book Challenges Ideas about the Immortality of Art– ‘Agrippa: A Book of the Dead’ by William Gibson and Dennis Ashbaugh.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. Omni Jan 1993: 14(1). Retrieved 30 September 2005. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1430/is_n4_v15/ai_13304888

This article offers a substantial review of the book and its broadcast with commentary from Ashbaugh and Begos. (more…)

Jonas, Gerald. “The Disappearing $2,000 Book.”

New York Times 29 Aug. 1993: BR12.

A full-length discussion of the text including comments from Begos, Gibson and Ashbaugh. (more…)

Jirgens, Karl E. “Gibson Satire Fights the Hype.”

Rev. of All Tomorrow’s Parties, by William Gibson. Eye Weekly 2 Dec. 1999. Retrieved 31 Aug. 2005. http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_12.02.99/arts/books.html

This review of Gibson’s All Tomorrow’s Parties also references Agrippa. (more…)

Holderness, Mike. “Vanishing Act Caught in the Net.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. New Scientist 20 Mar. 1993: 45.

Article offers a short review of Agrippa and its early transcription on the net. (more…)

Fein, Esther B. “Read It, and It’s Gone.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. Book Notes, New York Times 18 Nov. 1992: C26.

Short item in the Book Notes column of the Times about the book (“and the word is used in the loosest sense possible”) contemporary to its release. Includes a description of the book and Gibson’s scrolling poem based on announcements from, and an interview with, the publisher. (more…)

Ehrenman, Gayle C. “Write Once, Read Once Literature.”

PC Magazine 11 (1992): 34 (1).

Article offers commentary regarding the ephemeral character of the poem’s content and the technology platform itself. (more…)

Edwards, Gavin. “A Real Page Burner.”

Review of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. Details June 1992. Retrieved 31 Aug. 2005. http://www.textfiles.com/sf/cyberlit.txt

Interesting review of Agrippa: a Book of the Dead, particularly in its claims about the book’s appearance and text, which seem to differ from other accounts. (more…)

Chollet, Laurence. “William Gibson’s Second Sight in Meetings of Man and Machine, Ecstacy and Dread, the Cyberpunk Guru Divines the Future.”

Los Angeles Times Magazine 12 Sept. 1993: 34.

Article offers a discussion of Gibson’s novel Virtual Light. Although the article primarily deals with other work by Gibson, it includes a few comments on Agrippa. (more…)

Chollet, Laurence. “It’s The Story You Just Can’t Forget — This Book Is Read On A Computer — and One Time Only.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. The Record 17 May 1992. Retrieved 31 August 2005. http://www.highbeam.com/library/

This article emphasizes the work’s ephemeral nature and discusses the genesis of the project, apparently from a chance meeting at an art and technology fair in Barcelona, Spain, and offers some commentary from Gibson. (more…)

Blade X (Ed.). “Agrippa—Book of the Dead.”

Cyberlicious 13 Feb. 1993. Retrieved 31 August 2005.
http://kbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/scream/6.txt

Cyberlicious offers a brief press release and review of Agrippa. (more…)

Jillette, Penn. “Agrippa – One Shot to Download Dad.”

PC/Computing Sept 1992: 436(1)

Article offers a humorous review of Agrippa by the famed magician. (more…)

Baker, John F. “Electronic Art Book … for One Read Only.”

Rev. of Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, by William Gibson. Publishers Weekly 29 June 1992: 28.

Straightforward review of Agrippa with valuable observations from Begos and Gibson. (more…)