cyberpoetry

In recent years, the field of digital poetry had at least three major critical monographs
discussing the genre and its state-of-the-art. Loss Pequeño Glazier (2002), Brian Kim
Stefans (2003) and Christopher T. Funkhouser (2007) have not only introduced new
critical perspectives, but have also discussed the genre’s problematic definition and its
denominations’ variety: e-poetry, cyberpoetry and digital poetry.
Considering Theo Lutz’s Stochastische Texte (1959) as the first work of
programmable poetry, one should note the genre’s long history of practice in spite of
its shorter history of critical writing. Therefore, the way authors have been coining
and defining the genre itself claims for a theorization standpoint and helps shaping the
field towards a specific path and perhaps a crystalized historical construction.
Do the referenced terms position their authors in a similar flow of thought? By
following a concept’s trajectory and the author’s choice, one must consider the fact
that its crystallization will shape future critical writing. In this sense, it is important to
discuss this diversity and track important differences. Therefore, I argue that one
needs to identify an option towards genre definition and keep a solid and accountable
reference to it. For that matter, I find digital poetry a suitable concept to adopt when
considering works of poetry that take advantage of networked and programmable
media.

As with other world-changing discoveries or events, the use of computers and the Web have contributed to the ‘virtualization’ of ‘the ideas domain’ of poetry. By virtualization it is assumed that something has been made virtual. But not virtual as understood by the scientists or by commerce or by the entertainment industry that see virtualization as the transferring of a function from one physical form to another, like a virtual surgery with patient and doctors in separate physical locations or a virtual on-line marketplace like eBay or a virtual terrain as in virtual reality (VR) games. The virtualization of poetry does not mean taking the function of poetry in print or in performance and transferring it to the web, although this can be and has been a result of the virtualization. The virtualization of poetry has meant that the ideas domain of poetry has been re-thought and new questions and problems posited as a result of the new digital technologies. It has also meant that new actualizations have been realized in media that were not available to the poet in the past.

(Source: Author's abstract)

The book collects various writings centered around the theme digital poetics. It is based on earlier publications of the author and often accompany an element of language game to the chapters.