MLA Convention 2020: Documenting a Graduate Course in Electronic Literature with ScalarMain MenuMLA Convention 2020: Documenting a Graduate Course in Electronic Literature with ScalarAcknowledgmentNazua IdrisIntroductionKathryn ManisDesigner's StatementNazua IdrisChapter 1: Responding to Major Theoretical Works of Electronic LiteratureSection I: "Intimate Mechanics: One Model of Electronic Literature"Kathryn ManisSection II: "Future Fiction Storytelling Machines"Nazua IdrisSection III: "Digital Interventions"Nazua IdrisSection IV: "Teaching Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: A Proposal"Ricardo RamirezSection V: "Feminism, Print, Machines"Ricardo RamirezSection VI: "On Turbulence"Ricardo RamirezSection VII: "Literary Gaming"Ricardo RamirezSection VIII: "The Machine in the Text, and the Text in the Machine"Landon RoperSection IX: "Literary Texts as Cognitive Assemblages: The Case of Electronic Literature"Landon RoperChapter 2: Critical Engagements with Electronic LiteratureSection I: "The Ballad of Sand and Harry Soot" by Stephanie StricklandKathryn ManisSection II: "Patchwork Girl" by Shelley JacksonKathryn ManisSection III: "Faith" by Robert KendallNazua IdrisSection IV: “Loss of Grasp” by Serge BouchardonNazua IdrisSection V: "Shy boy" by Thom SwissRicardo RamirezSection VI: "RedRidingHood" by Donna LeishmanRicardo RamirezSection VII: "Tipoemas y Anipoemas" by Ana Maria UribeLandon RoperSection VIII: "Dakota" by Young Hae-Chang Heavy IndustriesLandon RoperChapter 3: Pedagogical Possibilities: Electronic Literature in Classroom and BeyondSection I: At the Intersection of Games and E-Lit: Kathryn Manis in conversation with Nicholas BinfordKathryn ManisSection II: Group Traversal on Judd Morrissey's "The Jew's Daughter"Nazua IdrisSection II: Individual Case StudiesJulian Ankney's CaseNicholas Binford's CaseTroy Rowden's CaseRichard Snyder's CaseRosamond Thalken's CaseConclusionsRicardo RamirezAuthors' BiosNazua IdrisLandon Roperd6bafe98ae021bac254d2976714bb17c121d306b
This literary game configures a very interesting postmodernist take on the children's literature masterpiece Little Red Riding Hood. To begin with, the author Donna Leishman decided to give the "reader/player" the possibility of experiencing a good number of different narratives by making RedRidingHood more interactive and more appealing to the eye. For a start, there's not much textual level intervention on the part of the author but the subtext is evident: meaning is constructed symbolically through basic but well-designed Flash animations. In a similar vein, the background music ascribes to a darker kind of genre. I contend that the intentionality of the author may have been that of giving the story a more dramatic nuance by resorting to more dramatic music.
According to literary critics, Little Red Riding Hood is a story that metaphorizes how young girls lose their virginity. In this e-literature piece, the figures of the little girl and the big bad woolf are obvious representations of this interpretation the literary critics put forward. But, in tandem, this is when RedRidingHood allows for a new take on the original story. The girl in this animated story lives in a apartment building, goes through a park (you can choose more than one possible adventure) and eventually has to deal with the woolf along the way. And towards the end of the story, she goes to bed, falls asleep and when she wakes up she realizes she is pregnant. The story may be less subtle than expected and it certainly paves the way for a reinterpretation of the original text.