The Portuguese Electronic Literature Collection (PELC) at the ELMCIP KB aims to address and collect the most relevant creative and critical works produced by Portuguese authors in the field of electronic literature during the past forty-five years. The collection also brings together authors, events, organizations, publishers, journals, publications, conferences, performances and exhibitions related to the Portuguese context.
This paper critically examines PELC by focusing on literary, political, historical, aesthetic and technological elements through a common thread represented by a “luminous beam.” It intends to highlight not only the thematic and medial transition and continuity, but also the transgression and rupture, that runs from the Portuguese avant-garde movement of Experimental Poetry from the 1960s to current electronic literature environments. Throughout the paper there is an analysis of several works by Pedro Barbosa, E. M. de Melo e Castro, Silvestre Pestana, Manuel Portela and Rui Torres.
(Source: Author's Abstract)