"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Ali/x is a digital Orlando for the modern age, moving across time and through transmutations of identity, weaving her stories with "long lines of laptop DNA" and shaping herself to the reader's desire. She wants to make love as simple as a song, but even in cyberspace there is no love without pain. Ali/x offers a stranger on the other side of the screen the opportunity of freedom for one night. She falls in love with her beautiful stranger, and finds herself reinvented by her own story.
The PowerBook is rich with historical allegory and literary allusion. Winterson's dialogue crackles with humor, snappy dialogue, and good jokes, several of which are at her own expense. This is a world of disguise, boundary crossing, and emotional diversions that change the navigation of the plot of life. Strangely sprouting tulips are erected in place of the phallus. Husbands and wives are uncoupled. Lovers disappear in the night to escape from themselves. On the hard drive of The PowerBook are stored a variety of stories that the reader can download and open at will, complete stories that loop through the central narrative. The tale of Mallory's third expedition, the disinterring of the Roman Governor of London in Spitalfields Church, or the contemplation of "great and ruinous lovers" are capsules of narrative compression. In Winterson's compacted meaning, language becomes a character in its own right--it is one of the heroes of the novel.
"What I am seeking to do in my work is to make a form that answers to 21st-century needs," Winterson has written. The PowerBook does just that. Her prose has found a metaphor for its linguistic forms of creation that feels almost invented for her, "a web of coordinates that will change the world." There will be a virtual rush of Internet-themed books in the networked naughties. With The PowerBook Winterson has triumphantly gotten there first. --Rachel Holmes
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 3.49
Within U.S.A.
Book Description hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_390045315
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine (Book Condition). Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine ( Jacket Condition). First American Edition. A very nice copy. First U S but, with Knoff Canada on dust jacket and text. Text clean, binding strong. [Our rating system: 1. Fine; 2. Near Fine; 3. Very Good; 4. Good; 5. Fair.]. Book. Seller Inventory # 024113
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. Clean bright copy. Seller Inventory # 009749
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine (Book Condition). Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine ( Jacket Condition). First American Edition. A very nice copy. First U S but, with Knoff Canada on dust jacket and text. Text clean, binding strong. [Our rating system: 1. Fine; 2. Near Fine; 3. Very Good; 4. Good; 5. Fair.]. Book. Seller Inventory # 024113
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. Seller Inventory # 001162
Book Description hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. First US Edition [1st US Edition]. In Very Good, mylar-wrapped dust jacket. Seller Inventory # FORT430390
Book Description Condition: VeryGood. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbb0022758185
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. First Canadian Edition. A Good Read ships from Toronto and Niagara Falls, NY - customers outside of North America please allow two to three weeks for delivery. Flat-signed by author on title page. ; Canadian d/j over first American edition. ; 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 54205
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First American Edition. Quarter black cloth with gilt lettered spine and green overboards. Book and dust jacket in fine condition, like new. Signed by the author on the title page. A fine copy. Seller Inventory # 2288
Book Description Hardcover. First American edition. A novel that probes the boundaries of the Internet. Ali writes stories on email for anyone who wants them. She promises "freedom just for one night," but she does not do so without a warning: the story might change you. Ask for an epic love story and you will get one, but Ali will be cast in it, too, and the lines between the real and imagined may blur. Plucking characters from history and myth, Winterson journeys through time and stops in London, Paris, and Capri, all the while melding the language of love with that of computers. In The PowerBook she has found a brilliant conceit through which to showcase her increasingly bold voice. 289 pages. A fine copy in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 15269