The Electronic Literary: An Introduction

The Scriptorium and "writing in turmoil"

Electronic literature is:

"work with an important literary aspect that takes advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer" (3)

"trading zone"

from "literature" to "literary"

Genres

3-D Spaces

perl -le 'sub p{split/,/,pop;$_[rand@_]}{$_=p("sw,-aw,&w,saw".", "x$l);s//p("aw,w")/e;s// /g;$_="\n\nthe s\n"if!$l;s/s/ws/;s/a/p("a,the,to,of")/e;s/w/p("b,ch,f,gr,k,p,sh,s,sk,sp,tw")."i".p("ll,n,t")/eg;s/(b|p|f)i/$1.p("a,i")/e;print;$l=0if$l++>6+rand 9;sleep 1;redo}'

How do we archive e-lit?

We need new methods and terms

• Humans and machines “collaborate to produce literary works” (26)

• How software and the network are configured affect how we receive texts and how they’re distributed

How do we read and think about the electronic literary

"For readers who do not themselves program in computational media, the temptation of reading the screen as a page is especially seductive. Although they are of course aware that the screen is not the same as print, the full implications of this difference for critical interpretation are far from obvious. Moreover, the shift from print to programmable media is further complicated by the fact that compositional practices themelves continue to evolve as the technology changes at a dizzying pace." (Hayles 24)

The Electronic Literary

Generative Art

"Screen" by Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Josh Carroll, Robert Coover, Shawn Greenlee, Andrew McClain, and Ben "Sascha" Shine

Interactive Drama

Hypertext Fiction

Storyspace

The Z-axis

Interactive fiction