New 'Electronic Literature' Anthology Shows Fluid Definition of the Genre - Wired Campus

New ‘Electronic Literature’ Anthology Shows Fluid Definition of the Genre

February 14, 2011, 3:20 pm

A new collection of “electronic literature” proves that the genre of interactive storytelling comes in an array forms and technological platforms. In fact, if you’re not sure what exactly electronic literature is, you still won’t know after clicking around on this Web site that mixes video, audio, and text into works that are not quite video games, not quite poetry, and nothing like a traditional novel.

Works in the anthology, Electronic Literature Collection Volume Two, include a poem that lets users trigger different sounds by clicking on various letters; a video game that lets players shoot pictures of words; and a satirical collaborative novel about a book tour that “takes on the excesses of a rock tour.”

The goal, said Mark Marino, an assistant professor of writing at the University of Southern California, who has a work in the collection, is to “inspire the next waves of digitally born literary creations.” That stands in contrast to what he sees as the spirit of a typical literary anthology, “whose primary function is to intimidate students and to enshrine an elite group of dead authors.”

The collection was published free online by the Electronic Literature Organization, a nonprofit group started by professors and graduate students.

One work of digital fiction in the collection “comes closer than any digital literature work thus far to realizing a long-held dream,” according to a note on the site. That dream: to incorporate just about any typed response from a user into the outcome of the story’s narrative—a feat of artificial intelligence as much as storytelling.

Unfortunately, that story, called Facade, also shows the limitations these experimental electronic works. To read the piece, you first have to install it on your computer, because it is a stand-alone piece of software (the anthology provides separate versions for Mac and for PC). Doing so requires a lengthy download. When I tried to open the installed software on my newly purchased MacBook Pro, I got a notice saying “Loading …” which never ended. Then my computer crashed. A pretty frustrating experience.

To be fair, most of the pieces were free of glitches, and many simply play in a standard Web browser. And the collection’s variety means that clicking on a work feels adventurous and often reveals clever surprises.

Many of them pack a message as well. As Mr. Marino said, “some mistakenly believe e-lit is only ever “about” electronic media, but this collection shows quite a bit of engagement with the political and social issues of the day.”

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http://twitter.com/markcmarino markcmarino

Hi, Jeff,
Thanks for your interest in ELC2.

Michael Mateas, co-creator of Façade, emailed me the following note:

Facade doesn’t run on the last couple of versions of OS X – something changed a couple of revs ago that breaks Facade. Best bet is to boot your mac into Windows and run it there (or run it on a mac run an old version of OS X)….Windows is the best bet to experience it at this point.

Needless to say, changing operating systems make up just one of the obstacles to the development (and circulation) of these digitally-born literary works.
cb_10

“whose primary function is to intimidate students and to enshrine an elite group of dead authors.”

If Mr. Marino’s literary work is as cliched and pretentious as his impressions on classical literature are, I’ll have to pass.

There’s certainly something worth mining in “electronic literature,” but those who have little respect for the great writers of the past, or little understanding of why students should be familiar with their cultural and literary history are hardly the ones to lead the way.
markcmarino

Wow, if only I knew who “cb_10″ was, I could have a more civil exchange with her or him. I invite you, cb_10, please, take a look at my work. I promise you will find it MUCH MORE cliched and pretentious than my impressions of classical literature.
cb_10

I actually looked at quite a few pieces on the site. (FWIW- I found the quality to be mixed, at best – a few interesting pieces, a few that whose self-consciously avant-garde approach left me cold, and I generally like avant-garde literature.)

Reading more closely, you’ll find my objection is with your take on literary anthologies. I’m well aware of the need for avenues for new writers. I’m just not sure though why that need requires disparaging the anthologizing of writers whose work is generally accepted to be of a high quality. Those writers were once new writers blazing new trails, and writers today are standing on their shoulders in more than a few ways.

I’m also not sure how anthologies intimidate students. I’ve always found being exposed to great writing inspiring, myself.

Maybe your quote came out wrong? (I’ve experienced being misquoted before – What’s the old saying? “To be interviewed is to be misquoted.”) However, it struck me as an all too familiar refrain these days, an attack on the very concept of “classic literature” as being some sort of artificial cultural construct. I found the comment cheapened your otherwise laudable goals.
http://twitter.com/ritaraley Rita Raley

Thanks to Jeff Young for drawing attention to the second volume of the Electronic Literature Collection, which I and my co-editors – Laura Borràs, Talan Memmott, and Brian Kim Stefans – have just released. I did want to comment on the notion that this collection needs to be differentiated from a “typical literary anthology,” however. It may not be typical in the ordinary sense but it is absolutely an anthology and we hope it will be received as such precisely because of the crucial role that anthologies play in the development of both field and canon. Here I draw on my experience studying the history of literary anthologies and miscellanies, beginning with an early project I worked on with Laura Mandell and Harriett Linkin. (See Anthologies and Miscellanies and the Romantic Circles Anthologies Page.) Individual academic studies are not enough to create a solid institutional niche for any humanistic field; their reception must necessarily be limited as long as the critical objects themselves are difficult to find or even literally inaccessible because of such issues as browser compatibility. If literary uses of networked and programmable media are to be granted the academic recognition they surely deserve, such works must be published, circulated, and put to use in the schools, for which we require the mode of editorial review particular to an anthology. Consider, too, the fact that at least four tenure-track job advertisements this year explicitly mentioned electronic literature, in those terms or as “digital literature” or “emergent literary genres.” The ELC2 collection is perfectly suited for the students that these and other faculty will teach; it aims not only to produce knowledge of these new genres but also to facilitate its transmission.
http://twitter.com/markcmarino markcmarino

Thank you for taking the time to return to the conversation, cb_10 (sorry, no name yet), and I found this response be helpful in clarifying your point — and moderating your tone. I’m also glad you were able to get past your initial prejudices and explored the collection.

Rita (below) speaks well to the role of the anthology in the larger scheme of institutional literary studies. I would think the social construction of classical literature has been thoroughly made plain elsewhere, and I find it hard to deny the goals of those who try to complicate our assumptions of canon-building. Surely, your explorations of the works will uncover in e-lit a deep love of “classical literature.” “Façade”, for example, adapts and re-imagines “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “Amor de Clarice” is based on excerpts from the short-story “Amor,” by Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. No doubt you see other gifts of inheritance: concrete poetry, sound poetry, postmodern narratives, modernistic fragmentation….

You say you find being exposed to great writers inspiring, and I would hope your exposure to the ELC2 — and this was the gist of my quote — will inspire you to read more of it and create some of your own!
nybound

The NCAA prefers to primarily punish students by reducing the amount of scholarships available.
cwinton

Hmm … we seem to have a short memory here. I seem to recall that the NCAA mandated that UNLV suspend its basketball coach (Tarkanian) for two years, but the courts then intervened in the coach’s favor, ruling that the NCAA had not provided sufficient due process. Due process for the NCAA is evidently a bit more convoluted than for the NFL, so I don’t think the kind of penalties the NFL is able to impose can so readily be translated to actions the NCAA can take.
http://twitter.com/TamaraKrause1 Tamara Krause

It seems to mirror much of the content and ideas behind WiseChoice.com, which has been out for a few years now. My daughter is in high school and uses both WiseChioce and Zinch. She definitely prefers to watch the short video segments over reading the content articles. Anything that helps students plan and pay for college is a welcome addition to the web.
vso77845

Nice, but there does not seem to be any kind of link for veterans or military who are preparing to enter or re-enter higher education via the new GI Bill or other means. Surely this would be easy to add and would be a tremendous service. It’s a simple button, as with this site from Transfer 101 in Texas, where “military” is clearly indicated right at the top of the page:
http://transfer101.org/
Let’s hope this gets put into all sites.