German

"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.

A special issue of the journal SPIEL.

Electronic literature and E-Poetry is updated, interactive, subjective and well networked. But how durable is it? How long do texts published on web pages remain readable? What happens to the old issues if one visits a literature magazine “via the web”? How is a blog archived? Should texts that are deliberately published on the fleeting medium internet be conserved at all for the future?

It seems ironic that the transient character of the internet is attached to a medium that seems to be very suitable for documentation and archiving. And still each website only remains available on the internet at its original address for less than 100 days on average. Afterwards it moves or is erased completely. This is of course also the case for Net literature.

However, different genres turn the tables. These conceptions don’t even have the problems of archiving and musealization, but explicitly excluded them. The temporary and transience becomes the topic of literature.

In this special issue of the magazine SPIEL: “Siegener periodical for International Empirical Literature Study” new methods and objects of the archiving of Net Literature are presented with very different points of view being represented. In addition to theoretical articles on this topic’s specific problems, Net authors, Electronic literature authors, E-poets and institutes engaged in or familiar with archiving comment on this.

Please find more information at: http://archivierung.hartling.org/. The special issue can be ordered from: http://bit.ly/ax2GBH.