Tolstoy's Dictaphone

When the great Russian writer Tolstoy was first offered the use of a brand new invention called the Dictaphone, he refused it, saying that it was sure to be "too dreadfully exciting" and would distract him from his literary endeavors.

For this provocative launch of the Graywolf Forum series, Sven Birkerts invited a number of literary writers to tell him how they were reacting to the technological innovatios of our day. Do the "dreadful excitements" promised by a digital future cause us to forfeit our time-honored cultural traditions for dubious gain? Or will the electronic millennium usher in an unprecedented age of interconnectedness and opportunities for wider communication?

In the tradition of the Graywolf Annuals, this first Graywolf Forum presents a wide range of responses from contemporary creative writers.

Contributors:

Sven Birkerts

Harvey Blume

Daniel Mark Epstein

Jonathan Franzen

Thomas Frick

Alice Fulton

Albert Goldbarth

Carolyn Guyer

Gerald Howard

Wendy Lesser

Ralph Lombreglia

Carole Maso

Askold Melnyczuk

Robert Pinsky

Wulf Rehder

Lynne Sharon Schwartz

Tom Sleigh

Mark Slouka

Paul West