Introduction
In his 2018 survey text of Electronic Literature and it’s genres, Scott Rettberg begins with a recap of some of the many definitions offered by scholars in the field. He notes that even within the field, the term and its definition is controversial, which is to say nothing of adjacent disciplines of study in technology and the humanities. Among those that Rettberg includes are:
- John Cayley’s idea of “writing in networked and programmable media,”
- Stephanie Strickland’s argument that e-lit, “relies on code for its creation, preservation and display; there is no way to experience a work of e-literature unless a computer is running it – reading and perhaps also generating it” (2009), and
- Noah Wardrip-Fruin’s offering from the 2004 ELO committee that, “Electronic literature, or e-lit, refers to works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the standalone or networked computer.” Wardrip-Fruin’s list of possible forms and experimental threads included hypertext fiction, literary apps, and online literary performances.
According to Rettberg, the field of E-lit currently includes the genres of Combinatory Poetics, Hypertext Fiction, Interactive Fiction, Kinetic and Interactive Poetry, Network Writing, and a catch-all genre that he calls “Divergent Streams.” But he likewise notes the importance of novelty – both of the new media and technology that E-Lit authors experiment with and, perhaps more importantly, in evolving ideas about art, aesthetics, and historical divisions between the popular and the academic. He writes that:
Novelty is undoubtedly central to electronic literature – its authors are trying out new tools and approaches and in some sense conducting experiments in the same way as scientists do in a lab, testing how materials work together, what sorts of reactions occur when new mixes of computational method and literary practice are cast into the same cauldron. But it is also the case that the new forms and thematic concerns of electronic literature do not merely emerge from the technology itself: instead they emerge from the interaction of new technologies with aesthetic concerns that have much longer histories (6).
Rettberg has begun the work of establishing concrete parameters for the field and collecting the insights of other established scholars involved with e-lit and its documentation. But he also includes this important caveat, insightfully highlighting the continual coevolution of art and technology. It is with this novelty and endless potential for change in mind, that this text explores the existing corpus of e-lit and corresponding scholarship and hypothesizes the future pedagogical potential of both.
This book project was born in a Graduate Seminar, taught in Washington State University’s English Department by Dr. Dene Grigar in the Spring of 2019. The course, offered as a Digital Humanities credit, explored the birth of Electronic Literature in the U.S. in the early 1980’s, its development into the contemporary moment, and its implications for future and ongoing academic study of literature. As was often discussed during the course, the future of Humanities study is often felt to be fraught and contingent as budgets seems to universally decrease and fewer new jobs are created each year. Recognizing as we do - though we may disagree on what it suggests and whether it should be viewed positively - that technology (historically and contemporaneously) has a pronounced impact on cultural value and practice, it is necessary to critically examine born-digital art and works that creatively engage with new technological mediums.
The authors of this text approached this course with varying research interests and familiarity with the Digital Humanities, but were universally new to the formalized study of Electronic Literature Thus, this book is necessarily two things:
- A learning experience, reflecting the authors’ encounters over time with born-digital art and the academic conversations surrounding it and
- A text that is affected by the unique perspectives and background of its authors. Coming from different academic disciplines, multiple countries and a wide range of professional experience, our views and interests are wildly different. In writing and editing this text we preserved our own reactions, interests, and perspectives on Electronic Art, even where we may disagree with and contradict each other.
We begin in Chapter 1 with ruminations on some of the canonical texts in Electronic Literature - as discipline. We offer both summary and response to the works in real-time and draw inspiration from Electronic artists by working in multiple modes and experimenting with image and hypertext. In this section, we necessarily diverge into our own research interests, considering various works of scholarship and the pieces of Electronic Literature which they discuss, in light of our own methodological frameworks. These include: critical race theory, aesthetics, feminist rhetorics and issues in book history and curation.
We likewise offer additional questions and generative thoughts/points at the end of each reflection. These questions were originally drafted as spring boards for discussion during our own class meetings. But we hope that they can also facilitate new ways for readers to reflect on their own experiences with Electronic Literature and provide additional connections between this unique corpus of work and questions/conversations taking place in other spheres of academia.
In Chapter 2 we continue with traversals of individual pieces, some of which were conducted with other students in the class or with wider digital audiences. We perform “classical” literary criticism, connecting thematic dots and contemplating the affordances of the medium(s) and their effects on the final artistic products. Ranging from discussions of early kinetic poetry up to more recent and complex works of hypertext and interactive fiction, this chapter demonstrates some of the ways that Electronic Literature both fits into existing literary canons and concepts, and deviates from or advances them.
In Chapter 3 we offer an interview with another student from the course, Nicholas Binford. Binford, an MA student in Literature at WSU's Pullman Campus, led a group traversal of the well-known 2011 work by Davey Wreden, The Stanley Parable. And, as part of the requirements of the course, pursued an extended project on the intersections of Role Playing Games (RPGs) like "Dungeons and Dragons" and works of interactive fiction. In our discussion with Binford we touch on subjects like: the experience of leading a traversal, the appeal of a work like The Stanley Parable, perceived silos between "academic" or "Art" texts and ludic ones, and the implications of interactivity for a wider audience.
We also share reflections from a group traversal of "Jew's Daughter" by Judd Morrissey, conducted via Zoom with the students enrolled in the class and Dr. Grigar.
Finally, we offer concluding thoughts on the study of Electronic Literature at the Graduate level - the questions that arise, potential opportunities for strategic professionalization, and some of the implications that such study might have on future academic practice. Some of these conclusions will be presented at the 2020 MLA Conference in Seattle, WA as part of a larger discussion panel. The panel is set to include additional students from the course, undergraduate students involved in the Electronic Literature Lab housed at WSU - Vancouver, Dr. Dene Grigar and other important scholars in the field of Electronic Literature.