TY - JOUR AU - Schmitz-Emans, Monika PY - 2017/01/09 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Books as material, virtual, and metaphorical entities JF - Book - Material - Text JA - BMT VL - 1 IS - 0 SE - Articles DO - 10.13154/bmt.1.2016.11-27 UR - https://bmt.ub.rub.de/index.php/BMT/article/view/558 SP - 11-27 AB - <p>To talk about books can be a metaphoric operation. Because books have always been conceptualized as metaphors for the texts they carry, it is easy to see them as both ‘real’ and ‘symbolic’ objects of a complex semiotic nature. This article shows several ways in which the book is exposed as a material object used for the production of manifold semantic layers. Apart from metaphors, the codex itself can be worked on like in Queneau’s <em>Cent mille milliards de poèmes</em><strong> </strong>or altered like in Tom Phillips’ <em>A Humument.</em> The effects of alteration and destruction on books can be shown on the book’s body or in artwork or comment surrounding the (invisible) book as in Gérard Wajcman’s <em>L’interdit</em> or Keri Smith’s <em>This is not a Book</em>.</p> ER -