American Lit

T 06-Dec    Last Class

• Read: Caitlin Fisher, These Waves of Girls: A Hypermedia Novella (2001) online
   
• Optional Selections:
  Donna Leishman, RedRidinghood (2001) — Electronic Literature Collection Volume 1
   
  Stephanie Strickland et al, slippingglimpse (2007) — Electronic Literature Collection Volume 2

 
Discuss: “Post-print”: Literature in “electronic age” of Internet & World Wide Web — updating “Contemporary American Lit” for digital/network technology {“author,” “reader,” “text,” “reading,” “form,” “genre,” “medium” ?}

 

 

W 07-Dec    » Optional Blog Entry (extra credit)

• Optional Readings (which to respond):
  • Robert Coover, “The End of Books” New York Times (21 June 1992) Permalink
  • Scott Rettberg, “Experiments in Irrational Exuberance: The Present and Future of Electronic Literature” (The Context of Electronic Literature“) KAIROS Volume 7, Issue 3 Fall 2002
  • Paul Lefarge, “Why the Book’s Future Never Happened” Salon 04 Oct 2011
    

    And then…nothing happened. The Wikipedia entry for hypertext fiction lists no works published after 2001, and although Wikipedia isn’t the final word on anything, you have to think, if someone had written a hypertext fiction, this is where they’d want to tell you about it.

 
 

R 08-Dec    No Classes (“Finals Reading Day”)
 

• Due: Friday   Response 5 (Creative/Hybrid Exercise) — Prompt
— Extra Credit: Respond to classmate’s entry (due Sat) — Prompt

 
 

S 11-Dec    Due: Essay Revision & Reflection (optional)

 

» Final Extra Credit assignment: Write/Update Wikipedia entry for Essay 2 Novel -or- a work of electronic literature

 
 

 

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Response 5: Contemporary Innovation — Creative Writing exercise (read closely)

500 words (minimum); due F 09-Dec
Post to blog; respond to classmate’s by S 11-Dec (optional / extra credit)

 
 

» Option 1

Task:
Compose new “episode(s)” within Essay 2 novel,
(1) using the “readymade” content {storyworld, characters, setting, reference material}
(2) as well as the techniques of literary writing in multiple modes of expression.
 

Remember: while an exercise in creative invention, you are also working within the “constraints” of the novel.
The means for expression are provided by your novel’s poetics and composition, as discussed in essay; use the three modes (at least) to varying extents, purposefully — with license to diverge from source novel’s composition (i.e. change prominence and prevalence of respective modes).
See below for key strategies, including media requirement.

 

» Option 2

Task:
Compose a hypermedia update of a story read in class or independently;
re-fashion into a new version (“re-visioning”), using logic of postmodernism and electronic literature — suitable to age of Web/Netowrk technology and audience.
 
Examples:

• web version of N. Scott Momaday The Way to Rainy Mountain (Ryan Travaille, Illinois State U.)

• Donna Leishman, RedRidinghood (2001)
• Shelly Jackson, My Body (1997)

 

» Note: if choosing this option, hyperlinks are certainly called-for; feel free to create sub-pages on your blog, in order to present hypertext composition with multiple links, media, text fragments.
See WordPress Instruction Pages: Pages & Links

 
 

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Strategies for Composition

parameters, expectations, suggestions, media techniques

 
 

1) Form/composition: Non-linear fragments; vignettes/scenes of narrative moments, respective instances within novel. (Suggested: 3-4 fragments, min..) So, this entry should not be a single linear narrative recounted in straight-foward fashion.

 
2) Using source characters (“readymade”), compose brief scenes that occur “within the gaps” of the novel’s narratives. In other words, invent by imagining likely anecdotes or events, based upon the information and characterization provided. These will be original scenes, within the parameters of the novel’s “storyworld” — plus perhaps “metalepsis” (“multiple worlds”) through techniques of reference.

— Tip: Use “minor characters” (particular individuals) for original scenes of your narrative.

 
3) Hybrid discourse: creative / inventive writing, which also reflects your study of novel’s multiple modes and their function/effect — employ purposefully, considering what to express.
Use at least one instance of Narrative, Reference, and Expressive modes — for example, respectively through historical information and aesthetic style (figurative/poetic, image, musical).

 
 
4) Style: concise and purposeful text, thoughtful use of both narration (limit) and diagloge; descriptive and evocative language (explicit, realistic, evocative, “expressive”); concrete and vivid imagery.
Overall, try to write like your souce author, in terms of diction and tone, to express your particular “sensibility” and “perceptiveness” {idea, affect, experience, encounter}.

 

• Media Requirement: use at least 1 type (image, audio, video, animation, map) for at least two distinct modes
  (so 2 total minimum, respective purposes).
  • Note: This directly address key assignment objective, asking you to consider how to uniquely employ certain modes.
    For example, audio is not automatically “aesthetic mode” if it is a song referenced in the text; this is more “supplementary” than “complementary” use, just like “caption relation” between image and text. An image can also work in variety of ways — representational, symbolic, expressive — depending upon aesthetic qualities.
    » Tip: consider what works “best” (effective, efficient) toward your purpose — whether “representational” (referential) or otherwise — in media just as in language.
     

  • Posting Media
    — you can use media on the Web (get URL) or your own (upload to your “Media Library”)
    Tip: Internet Archive is great source for audio and video.

     

    Media Instructions on WordPress.com:

    • Embedding Images
    • Video Instructions (for YouTube; cf. Google, Vimeo, etc. on page)
    • Adding Audio Instructions
    • Google Maps

 

 

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Optional Work

 
Extra Credit 1 (brief discussion; ~150-200 words?)

• Due Sat 10-Dec (on blog by midnight)
• “Poetics” of your composition: discuss process of writing this creative entry, including specific techniques & lessons applied from study of novel (Essay 2); most importantly, rationale for efforts, given assignment aims, insights within scope of our “survey study,” and/or context (“contemporary” or “postmodern” fiction, Web/network audience).

 
Extra Credit 2 (precise and concise response; ~200 words?)

• Due Sun 11-Dec (on blog by midnight)
• Read and respond to a classmate’s entry,
  identify the main strategies and multiple modes you notice, as well as function and effects. Not evaluating; rather, discussing literary entry in vocabulary and perspective of our course — especially given the topics and contexts of recent weeks, concerning genres and forms of literature within postmodern, contemporary, and electronic/network periods (1960-2010?).
  — Remember, not evaluating in terms of source novel (e.g. how “faithful”);
  avoid assessing your classmate’s work this way, and avoid statements of evaluation or opinion.
  — Note: if leaving a brief and/or “review” comment on author’s blog, this will count for participation credit. Still try to identify what elements work best or appeal toward terms/topics of recent weeks (multimodal, multimedia, innovative, etc).