The Language of New Media
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.
"In this book Lev Manovich offers the first systematic and rigorous theory of new media. He places new media within the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He also analyzes categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and database." (Book cover)
The Language of New Media was selected as the book of the month (8/01) in Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies.
Translations:
Italian: Il linguaggio dei nuovi media. Edizioni Olivares, 2002.
Korean: 뉴미디어의 언어. 생각의나무, 2004.
Spanish: El lenguaje de los nuevos medios de comunicación. Paidós, 2005.
Slovenian: Jezik novih medijev. Zavod Projekt, 2005.
Latvian: Jauno mediju valoda. RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture in Riga, 2006.
Polish: Język nowych mediów. Wydawnictwa Szkolne I Pedagogiczne, 2006.
Lithuanian: Naujųjų medijų kalba. MENE, 2009.
French: Le langage des nouveaux médias. Espace Multimédia Gantner, 2010.
Estonian: Uue meedia keel. Eesti Kunstiakadeemia, 2012.
Japanese: ニューメディアの言語. みすず書房, 2013.
Serbian: Jezik novih medija. Clio Publishing Company, 2015.
Greek: Η Γλώσσα των Νέων Μέσων. Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, 2016.
Russian: Язык новых медиа. Ad Marginem Press, 2017.
Czech: Jazyk nových médií. Karolinum Press, 2018.
Chinese (Traditional): 數位媒體新域. 后浪出版公司, 2020.
Chinese (Simplified): 新媒体的语言. 后浪出版, 2020.
Turkish: Yeni Medyanın Dili. Everest Yayınları, 2022.
Reviews:
"Manovich has given us a book, the book, we had hoped for...students everywhere will be clutching it like Mao's Red Book, Diamat of the Immaterialist generation. Best of all, after Language of the New Media we can argue on our own terrain."
Sean Cubitt, University of Waikato, New Zealand, in Leonardo Digital Review, 2001
"Anyone who wants to think clearly about the cultural implications of the digital mutation should read Lev Manovich’s new book, The Language of New Media. This book offers the most rigorous definition to date of new digital media; it places its object of attention within the most suggestive and broad ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan."
William Wagner, English Department, UCSB, in Telepolis, 2002
"Overall, it is hard to over-estimate the importance of The Language of New Media to the field of the same name, as it is the first rigorous and far-reaching theorization of the subject...The Language of New Media is required reading not only for those concerned with the discourses surrounding new media, but also for anyone critically engaged with contemporary art and culture."
Katie Mondloch, Art History, UCLA, in CAA Reviews, summer 2001
"Manovich has produced what is probably the most learned and exiting study of the way digital media work, to date."
Marjorie Perloff, in Common Knowledge 9:1, 2003