HE SYMBOLIC IMMORTALITY OF THE BOOK IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CONTINUITIES, REINVENTIONS, AND SOCIOTECHNICAL ECOSYSTEMS OF READING

Abstract

This article examines the factors that sustain the permanence and symbolic immortality of the book in the digital age, integrating historical, cultural, cognitive and sociotechnical dimensions. Based on a qualitative and exploratory-analytical approach, the study draws upon an integrative literature review, socio-historical analysis and hermeneutic interpretation of authors such as Chartier, Darnton, Eco and Carrière, Lévy, Santaella, Floridi, Freire, Gadamer, Heidegger, Jenkins, Latour, Sayão and Salles, Campello and Belluzzo. The findings indicate that the book persists not in opposition to digital technologies, but through its ability to reinvent itself within hybrid reading ecologies where printed books, e-books, audiobooks and platforms converge. The book’s endurance derives from its cognitive role in structuring thought, its historical and cultural density, its sociotechnical adaptability and the strategic role of libraries as agents of mediation, preservation and curation. The study concludes that the digital age does not threaten the book; rather, it expands its modes of existence, reaffirming it as an essential civilizational artifact for critical education, memory preservation and the democratization of knowledge.