performativity

A review of Beyond the Screen: Transformations of Literary Structures, Interfaces and Genres, edited by Peter Gendolla and Jörgen Schäfer.

Easy manipulation, playfulness, creative and active participation in the progress of society and culture by the development of various (art) projects are essential for the ideal of contemporary culture and society. The aim of the article is to look at the phenomena that play an important role in the field of electronic literature – interaction, materiality, performativity and the dynamics of hic et nunc, playfulness, ludification and the innovative use of platforms. The article follows contemporary trends in the field of electronic literature and simultaneously tries to outline some possible directions that electronic literature could take in the near future. (Source: author's abstract)

This article has two objectives. One is to give a clear example of the way in which practice and theory, or rather practice-as-research, can exist in a symbiotic relationship – each benefiting and illuminating the other. The second aim is to propose and map out an area of potential further research into the discursive positioning of e-literature. It draws on some of the thinking of Deleuze and Guattari around language and literature, in particular as it is articulated through a reading of them by Jean-Jacques Lecercle. In this respect it should be seen as a point of departure, not a presentation of findings. The article is an extended version of one I gave at Kingston University as part of the From Page to Screen to Augmented Reality Conference. The original article was designed to be delivered in conjunction with a video of a digital text work in performance. For this context I have taken some screenshots of that video and added them to the article. They will at least provide some sense of how the digital text work is displayed and how it functions.

Source: author's abstract

While literature in computer-based and networked media has so far been experienced by looking at the computer screen and by using keyboard and mouse, nowadays human-machine interactions are organized by considerably more complex interfaces. Consequently, this book focuses on literary processes in interactive installations, locative narratives and immersive environments, in which active engagement and bodily interaction is required from the reader to perceive the literary text. The contributions from internationally renowned scholars analyze how literary structures, interfaces and genres change, and how transitory aesthetic experiences can be documented, archived and edited.