Losing Touch

A Recent Wall Street Journal Opinion piece, "If Odysseus Had GPS," points to a relationship between technological innovation and narrative genres that might not be necessarily there. Of course, telephone communication is often featured in movies, and cell phones have become an important part of plot lines that once created suspense by having characters out of contact, but the continuing contemporary fascination with castaways seems to indicate that the Odysseus storyline is a permanent part of our culture. It could be argued, in fact, that the more we are connected, the more we experience anxiety about disconnection.

Thanks to Peter Krapp for the link.