Three Generations of Electronic Literature

Tuesday, February 12

Student Assembly & Academic Recess – Class does not meet

• Online Activity:
  • Readings:
    • Read my comments on your responses to Uncle Roger.
    • “My Body: A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson
    • “Entre Ville” by J.R. Carpenter
    • “Queerskins” by Illya Szillak
    • “Pangram (The Quick Brown Fox)” by Alan Bigelow
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to two of the assigned works (above), comparing and contrasting their use of hypertext to structure their works. Post before the end of class on Tuesday.
  • Read at least 2 of your classmates’ responses and comment substantively on them before the end of Wednesday, February 13. Conversations encouraged!
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 87-104.
  • Watch “Exploring Interactive Fiction” by Nick Montfort and this excerpt from “The Big Bang Theory”
  • Play “Galatea” by Emily Short as thoroughly as you can.
  • Explore textadventures.co.uk and play at least one more text adventure.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to Galatea and one more interactive fiction work. Post before the end of class on Thursday.

Thursday, February 14

Class does not meet.

• Online Activity:
  • Play “Galatea” by Emily Short as thoroughly as you can.
  • Explore textadventures.co.uk and play at least one more text adventure.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to Galatea and one more interactive fiction work listed above. Post before the end of class on Thursday.
  • Read at least 2 of your classmates’ responses and comment substantively on them before the end of Friday, February 15. Conversations encouraged!
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature pgs. 104-109.
  • Read “Patterns of Hypertext” by Mark Bernstein
  • Play 2 of the Twine Games published in the Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 3.
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to the two Twine games you read, discussing their use of hypertext to structure their works by placing them in conversation with Bernstein’s essay. Post before class on Tuesday (and we will meet in person, this time!).

Tuesday, February 5

• In class:
  • Discussion of hypertext antecedents
  • Texts to be discussed:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 54-68.
    • “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges
    • Read Wikipedia entry on Choose Your Own Adventure books.Underground Kingdom by Edward Packard
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 68-74.
    • Explore Eastgate Systems website.
    • Read “Uncle Roger, File 1” in the ELC3.
    • Read “Judy Malloy’s Uncle Roger” in Pathfinders and watch Judy Malloy’s traversals.
  • Write a post in your Facebook Group that has a 1-paragraph response to Uncle Roger and a 1-paragraph response to something you learned about it in the Pathfinders project, including the traversals. Your response is due by the end of class on Thursday.
  • Read 2 of your classmates’ posts on “Uncle Roger” and respond to them (substantively) no later than midnight on Friday, February 8.

Thursday, February 7

• Class does not meet. See Feb. 5 assignment for online class activity.
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature, pgs. 74-86.
  • Readings:
    • “My Body: A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson
    • “Entre Ville” by J.R. Carpenter
    • “Queerskins” by Illya Szillak
    • “Pangram (The Quick Brown Fox)” by Alan Bigelow
  • Write a post in our Facebook group that responds to two of the assigned works, comparing and contrasting their use of hypertext to structure their works. Post before class on Tuesday.

Tuesday, January 29

• In class:
  • Discussion of combinatorial poetry
  • Discussion:
    • “The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed” and Markov Chain Generators.
    • “Taroko Gorge“
    • “Taroko Gorge and its Remixes“
    • Taper
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 51-53
    • Explore one or several editions of “NaNoGenMo” (click on the “Issues” on the top menu to see the novels) and sample some of the completed novels.
    • Explore the Bot Collection in the ELC3.
    • Use the “What Would I Say?” app on your Facebook account.
  • Write a 1-paragraph response to one of the NaNoGenMo novels that most drew your attention. Post your response as a comment on this post in Facebook Group, along with a link to the work you responded to. Your response is due before class on Thursday.

Thursday, January 31

• In class:
  • Discussion of 3rd generation combinatorial literature.
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 54-68.
    • “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges
    • Read Wikipedia entry on Choose Your Own Adventure books.
    • Read Underground Kingdom by Edward Packard (I recommend downloading the PDF).
  • Write a 1-paragraph response to The Underground Kingdom or “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Post it in our Facebook Group before class on Tuesday.

Tuesday, January 22

• In class:
  • Discussion of Surrealism, Dada, the Oulipo, and Combinatory poetics.
    • Cut-up
    • Mad Libs
    • OULIPO
    • Magnetic Poetry
  • Discussion of Electronic Literature Genres
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 30-41
    • Read “Christopher Strachey’s 1950’s Love Machine“
    • Read “Christopher Strachey loveletters (1952)“
    • Read all the poems in “Memory Slam“
  • Write a 1-paragraph response to one of the poems in “Memory Slam” placing it in conversation with the ideas explored in class. Post your response as a reply to this link in our Facebook Group. Your response is due before class on Thursday.

Thursday, January 24

• In class:
  • Discussion of combinatorial poetry
  • Discussion:
    • “The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed“
    • “Taroko Gorge“
    • “Taroko Gorge and its Remixes“
    • Taper
• Assignment:
  • Readings:
    • Electronic Literature, pgs. 41-53
    • Read “Genre: Bot” in the ELC3 and explore its bots.
    • Explore one edition of “NaNoGenMo” and sample some of the completed novels.
  • Write a 1-paragraph response to one of the bots or novels that drew your attention most. Post your response in our Facebook Group, along with a link to the work you responded to. Your response is due before class on Thursday.

Tuesday, January 15

• In class:
  • Intros
  • Pair and share: literary media
• Assignment:
  • Order / Download your textbook: Electronic Literature by Scott Rettberg (available here).

Thursday, January 17

• In class:
  • Discussion of media, communication, and creativity
    • Intro: “Why I Am Not A Painter” (sardines)
    • Typewriter (example) (another)
  • Electronic literature genres
• Assignment:
  • Read Electronic Literature, Chapter 1 (available free in Amazon book preview – click “look inside”) and the beginning of Chapter 2 (pages 20-30).
  • Read “The Route of a Text Message” by Scott Weingart
  • Join our Facebook Group and comment on the link to “The Route of a Text Message” with a 1-paragraph response to the article. Comment on what struck you most about it, seeking to place it in conversation with the topics we’ve been discussing in the class. This is due before our next class.

Welcome to Three Generations of Electronic Literature!

This course offers an introduction to literature that engages the expressive potential of electronic and digital media. The course will be structured through a historical framework that proposes three generations of electronic literature: the first from 1951 to 1995, the second from the launching of the Web in 1995 to the present, and a third that arises circa 2005 with the rise of social media networks and app-based platforms. Through this generational focus, the course will explore the main electronic literature genres and the artistic and literary movements they arise from and respond to. Finally, the course will explore a model of stages of social adoption of electronic literature: approach, discovery, experimentation, and adoption.