Germany

Anthony Enns juxtaposes two models of German media theory in reviewing new works by Oliver Grau and Friedrich Kittler.

"Net literature" is a relatively young phenomenon that has its roots as well in the experiments of visual and concrete poetics as in the application of hypertext. With the extensive use of computer- and network-technologies this new kind of literature has grown up and is now considered to be one of the most important influences of recent art. Not only does "net literature" connect sound, video and animation with interactivity and allows new forms of artistic expression. It also destroys the traditional functions in the literary system: The ‘death of the author’ gives birth to the writing reader.

In this study a first attempt is made to apply the concept of "canon" to "net literature": Is there already a "canon" existing and if so, what are the techniques that are used to form this "canon"? Based on a theory of action and a modification of Karl Erik Rosengren’s "mention technique" a sample of German reviews on "net literature" was analyzed. The main research interests were: How reviewers refer to "net literature", which projects are considered to be of exceptional quality and which internet services influence this process of canonization (and how).

This study is also regarded as a test of the applicability of Rosengren’s method for the analysis of "net literature": Is it valid to use a method that was originally designed for the empirical study of the (traditional) literary canon for this purpose?

 The monograph is available to download from the archived linked in this entry.

German net literature had an early and very public start through competitions organized in 1996-8 by the major newspaper Die Zeit and IBM, but was declared dead or stillborn immediately afterwards. Consequently, net literature became a subject of controversy between artists, theorists, and literary critics from which not only a strong community evolved but also a literary system. In this system, competitions served as public, peer-reviewed mediators for net literature and became an important feature of “post-processing.” Since the end of the 90s however, German net literature became slowly invisible. The lack of public awareness of net literature is common to many countries. Post-processing is a key for public visibility and according to Siegfried J. Schmidt et al. an important component in a literary system. In search of reasons for the state of invisibility of German net literature, I analyze mechanisms of post-processing in our community, which I regard as a literary system. This descriptive synopsis is the first paper in an upcoming series that opens up questions towards the role of peer-review, public reception, and artists' community-building.