George Paul Landow (b. 25 August 1940) is Professor of English and Art History Emeritus at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. He is a leading authority on

Victorian literature Victorian literature refers to English literature during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). The 19th century is considered by some to be the Golden Age of English Literature, especially for British novels. It was in the Victorian era tha ...

, art, and culture, as well as a pioneer in criticism and theory of

Electronic literature Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature encompassing works created exclusively on and for digital devices, such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. A work of electronic literature can be defined as "a constr ...

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...

and

hypermedia Hypermedia, an extension of the term hypertext, is a nonlinear medium of information that includes graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks. This designation contrasts with the broader term ''multimedia'', which may include non-interac ...

. He also pioneered the use of hypertext and the web in higher education.

Work

George Landow has published extensively on

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

and the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

, specifically the life and works of

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism. ...

. Landow is also a leading theorist of

, of the effects of digital technology on language, and of electronic media on literature. While his early work on hypertext sought to establish design rules for efficient hypertext communication, he is especially noted for his book ''Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Literary Theory and Technology'', first published in 1992, which is considered a "landmark" in the academic study of electronic writing systems, and states the view that the interpretive agenda of

post-structuralist Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critiques ...

literary theory anticipated the essential characteristics of hypertext. In ''Hypertext'' Landow draws on theorists such as

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze ( , ; 18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volu ...

, Paul de Man, and

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

, among others, and argues, especially, that hypertext embodies the textual openness championed by post-structuralist theory and that hypertext enables people to develop knowledge in a non-linear, non-sequential, associative way that linear texts do not. Though he has been a consistent proponent of visual overviews and navigational maps, he has long argued that hypertext navigation is not a problem—that hypertexts are not more difficult to understand than linear texts. Landow also pioneered the use of the web in higher education with projects such as

The Victorian Web The Victorian Web is a hypertext project derived from hypermedia environments, Intermedia and Storyspace, that anticipated the World Wide Web. Initially created between 1988 and 1990 with 1,500 documents, it grew to 50,000 in the 21st century. In ...

, ''The Contemporary, Postcolonial, & Postimperial Literature in English web

and ''The Cyberspace, Hypertext, & Critical Theory web

Select works

*''Hypertext 3.0 : Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. *''Hypertext 2.0''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. *''Hypertext : The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. *''Hyper/Text/Theory'', 1994 * ''Hypermedia and Literary Studies'', 1994 (with Paul Delany) * ''The Digital Word: Text-Based Computing in the Humanities'', 1993 (with Paul Delany) * ''Elegant Jeremiahs: The Sage from Carlyle to Mailer'', 1986 * ''A Pre-Raphaelite Friendship: The Correspondence of William Holman Hunt and John Lucas Tupper'', 1986 * ''Ladies of Shalott: A Victorian Masterpiece and Its Contexts'', 1985 * ''Images of Crisis: Literary Iconology, 1750 to the Present'', 1982 * ''Victorian Types, Victorian Shadows; Biblical Typology in Victorian Literature, Art, and Thought'', 1980 * ''Approaches to Victorian Autobiography'', 1979 * ''William Holman Hunt and Typological Symbolism'', 1979 * ''The Aesthetic and Critical Theories of John Ruskin'', 1972

Honors

* Fulbright Program, Fulbright in Information Technology, Croatia, June 2011. * Distinguished Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore, August 1998 - March 1999. * National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College Teachers at Illinois State University (Project Director: Roger Tarr), 1998. * Visiting Professor, University of Zimbabwe, August 1997. * ACC Distinguished Lecturer in Computer Science, University of South Alabama, 1997. * Visiting Research Fellow in Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, 1995. * British Academy Visiting Professor, Bowland College, University of Lancaster, 1994. * Mellon Foundation Fresh Combinations Grant for a course in hypertext and literary theory, 1991-1992 * National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College Teachers at Yale University (Project Director: Duncan Robinson), 1991. * EDUCOM/ENCRIPTAL Higher Education Software Award, Best Curriculum Innovation - Humanities, from National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, 1990. * Faculty Fellow, Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship, 1989-1994 * National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College Teachers at Yale University (Project Director: Duncan Robinson), 1988. * Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting Planning Grant, for The Continents of Knowledge, 1988. * Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting Grant to develop educational software and course materials for the humanities, 1985–1987. * National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Ladies of Shalott, 1984–1985. (Project Director) * National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, 1984. *

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, 1978 * Visiting Fellow, Brasenose College, Oxford, 1977 * National Endowment for the Humanities Project Development Grant, 1976. * Phi Beta Kappa, 1974 *

, 1973 * Gustave O. Arldt Award,

Council of Graduate Schools The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is a nonprofit higher education organization with headquarters in Washington, DC. Its mission is to advance graduate education and research. Its main activities consist of best practice initiatives, data anal ...

in the United States, for a book in the humanities (for The Aesthetic and Critical Theories of John Ruskin), 1972 * Master of Arts Degree, Ad Eundum, Brown University, 1972 * Visiting Associate Professor, University of Chicago, 1970-1971 * Chamberlain Fellow, Columbia University, Summer 1969 * Fellow of th
Society for the Humanities
Cornell University, 1968-1969 * Research Grant, Council on the Humanities, Columbia University, Summer 1968 * Fulbright Scholar, Birkbeck College, University of London, 1964-1965 * Class of 1873 Fellow in English Letters, Princeton University, 1962-1964 *

Woodrow Wilson Fellow The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

, Brandeis University, 1961-1962

References

External links

Official site

Hypermedia: futures. Critic and new media in the globalization era
a talk given by George Landow at the

File festival File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to ''remove'' fine amounts of material from a workpiece **Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gent ...

Symposium/November/2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Landow, George 1940 births Living people American literary critics Postmodern theory American non-fiction writers Electronic literature critics American academics of English literature Brown University faculty