Review: M. Riva. 2022. Shadow Plays: virtual realities in an Analog World. Stanford University Press

Abstract

Shadow Plays: virtual realities in an Analog World, Massimo Riva's digital monograph, is published by Stanford University Press in the series dedicated to digital projects. The monograph deals with the optical devices of nineteenth-twentieth century Italy, and how the first immersive experiences contributed to modify some historical-cultural and artistic-literary aspects of our country. Moreover, Riva argues that the analog “virtual experiences” examined represent the progenitors of today's virtual and augmented reality experiences. This contribution examines Shadow Plays as an example of a digital monograph, in which content and “container” are inseparable and equally functional to the success of the research output.