Reading E-Literature

"12 Blue Isn't Anything, Think of Lilacs When They are Gone." 

Twelve Blue = a reading experience; a "story"; a conceptual exploration.

• Themes/Motifs: reading & flowing; water- upstream/downstream, stillness & turbulence, fluid and changing; memory; color; nature/seasons; traces; generations (young vs. more mature); history; perception (looking); multiple paths/multiple meanings; "skyways" (routes, infrastructure, mobility); self-referencial elements
• Character, plot and relationships: there are relationship "networks" but there was definitely some confusion - and each of us had information that the rest of us did not have.
• Reading strategies:   Some of us decided to follow a particular thread, some chose to click on threads or the hyperlinks randomly, some decided to stick by a certain thread color, others discovered the titles for each of the lexia and used this as an attempt to "frame" possible meanings.  Some attempted  basic "note taking" and/or "mapping" in an attempt to discern patterns or meanings.  We all expressed early frustration, and many felt a sense of exploration and discovery emerge after some more time spent with the text.  We all recognized an "overall flow" in the experience of reading, and some of us agreed it was pleasurable once the initial resistance was let go.  That said, we all speculated on the effect of a lack of any discernible ending or closure.  
• Assessment: 12 Blue reminds us all of the active role of the reader in creation; Reminds us of abstract art; some likened the reading experience to wandering through the MOMA; We all shared an awareness of an underlying structure that cannot/couldn't be apprehended; We struggled to apprehend an ending (lack of closure was deemed truly unsatisfying); Some of us agreed there is true beauty in the fragments.

I would like to share with you some critical/review articles. These articles give you an idea of how critics/scholars write about a text like 12 Blue:

• Selected Bibliography of Hypertext Criticism:  http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/viewArticle/115/114
• Postmodern Culture, Volume 8, Number 1, September 1997
• Don't Believe the Hype: Rereading Michael Joyce's Afternoon and Twelve Blue by Anthony Enns (2001 in Currents in Electronic Literature)

In class we discussed the "E-Lit review assignment" which is available on this blog in the "Course Materials & Assignments section.  Please explore ELC vol. 1 & 2 to identify a few texts you might like to review.  You  will all be "signing up" for both an e-lit text and a presentation date over the course of the next two class periods.  The first presentations of your E-lit reviews will start on March 5th.

Our conversation about 12 Blue was truly smart and engaging.  Unfortunately, the time remaining did not allow us a chance to read Frequently Asked Questions about Hypertext.  I thought I would include here some material prepared for class.  Below are some questions generated to prompt your reflections on this text.  If you are so inspired, you can check the text out on your own time (please note this is not a requirement for next class)-

• What does "FAQ about Hypertext?" do?
• What is it about?
• What information do you have to be familiar with to "get" it?
• If we read FAQ about Hypertext as narrative - what do we come up with?
• If we read this as a conceptual statement - what is the concept?
• How does the "experience" of this text contribute to its meaning?
• If we try to read this as parody, what is it parodying?

Theory:


FAQ about Hypertext may well be best appreciated by lit crit nerds who read journals such as: Criticism, The Journal of Popular Culture, and Diaspora

For next week:

1. Continue exploring the ELC Vol 1 & 2 and come to class ready to talk about some of the pieces that interest you for the Review Assignment.

2. Read approximately 60 screens of A Jew's Daughter.

3.  Blog #2:

• Write about some of the pieces you have been exploring in the ELC.  
• Also, create an imagined "self" or character and develop at least three scenes and two discussions/reflections that will reveal layers of the character or "self".  Make an outline. (This will be the beginnings of a basis for Project 1.)
 

Thanks for another great class and see you next week.