Digital Literature: An Essentially Contested Concept?
Submission Type
Paper
Start Date/Time (EDT)
21-7-2024 9:15 AM
End Date/Time (EDT)
21-7-2024 10:15 AM
Location
Hypertexts & Fictions
Abstract
Over half a century since the creation of the first text generators and decades after electronic hypertext was touted as the future of literature, the internet has progressed from the domain of ‘avant-garde computer hackers, cyberpunks and hyperspace freaks’ (Coover 1992) to a mundane, daily part of life for millions, if not billions, of global users. With this has come a deluge of ‘vernacular’ creativity (Burgess 2006)—both original and transformative—that sees new works of digital literature posted online on a minute-by-minute basis, by people who have no idea what they're producing... if what they're producing is digital literature at all. Using W. B. Gallie’s idea of the ‘essentially contested concept’ (1955) as a framework, this talk will situate debates on what constitutes digital literature by examining various definitions, delineations, and dilemmas put forward by scholars and practitioners through the field’s relatively short lifespan. In doing so, a series of linkages will be formed, illuminating the opposing views of digital literature as they developed. A range of questions will be confronted, including: Is self-reflexivity and disruption to the technological status quo a requirement, as Tisselli and Torres believe (2020)? Is Skains’ digital fiction net (2023) cast too wide? And has the rejection of traditional literary genres fostered greater creativity… or allowed for the incorporation of works that shouldn’t be regarded as literature at all? Through this, a sustainable conception of digital literature can be formed—one that acknowledges the difficulties faced by the discipline, the reasons why some practitioners may reject or ignore the term, and the ways traditional literary practice can be exclusionary—before a passing of the vanguard occurs and the field risks fading away into the larger communities from which many of its exemplars are claimed. Reference List Burgess, Jean. 2006. ‘Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling’. Continuum 20 (2): 201–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304310600641737. Coover, Robert. 1992. ‘The End of Books’. The New York Times, 21 June 1992. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/coover-end.html. Gallie, W. B. 1955. ‘Essentially Contested Concepts’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 56: 167–98. Skains, R. Lyle. 2023. Neverending Stories: The Popular Emergence of Digital Fiction. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Torres, Rui and Tisselli, Eugenio. 2020. ‘In Defense of the Difficult’. Electronic Book Review, May. https://doi.org/10.7273/Y2VS-1949.
Recommended Citation
Pyke, Tegan, "Digital Literature: An Essentially Contested Concept?" (2024). ELO (un)linked 2024. 18.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/elo2024/hypertextsandfictions/schedule/18
Digital Literature: An Essentially Contested Concept?
Hypertexts & Fictions
Over half a century since the creation of the first text generators and decades after electronic hypertext was touted as the future of literature, the internet has progressed from the domain of ‘avant-garde computer hackers, cyberpunks and hyperspace freaks’ (Coover 1992) to a mundane, daily part of life for millions, if not billions, of global users. With this has come a deluge of ‘vernacular’ creativity (Burgess 2006)—both original and transformative—that sees new works of digital literature posted online on a minute-by-minute basis, by people who have no idea what they're producing... if what they're producing is digital literature at all. Using W. B. Gallie’s idea of the ‘essentially contested concept’ (1955) as a framework, this talk will situate debates on what constitutes digital literature by examining various definitions, delineations, and dilemmas put forward by scholars and practitioners through the field’s relatively short lifespan. In doing so, a series of linkages will be formed, illuminating the opposing views of digital literature as they developed. A range of questions will be confronted, including: Is self-reflexivity and disruption to the technological status quo a requirement, as Tisselli and Torres believe (2020)? Is Skains’ digital fiction net (2023) cast too wide? And has the rejection of traditional literary genres fostered greater creativity… or allowed for the incorporation of works that shouldn’t be regarded as literature at all? Through this, a sustainable conception of digital literature can be formed—one that acknowledges the difficulties faced by the discipline, the reasons why some practitioners may reject or ignore the term, and the ways traditional literary practice can be exclusionary—before a passing of the vanguard occurs and the field risks fading away into the larger communities from which many of its exemplars are claimed. Reference List Burgess, Jean. 2006. ‘Hearing Ordinary Voices: Cultural Studies, Vernacular Creativity and Digital Storytelling’. Continuum 20 (2): 201–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304310600641737. Coover, Robert. 1992. ‘The End of Books’. The New York Times, 21 June 1992. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/coover-end.html. Gallie, W. B. 1955. ‘Essentially Contested Concepts’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 56: 167–98. Skains, R. Lyle. 2023. Neverending Stories: The Popular Emergence of Digital Fiction. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Torres, Rui and Tisselli, Eugenio. 2020. ‘In Defense of the Difficult’. Electronic Book Review, May. https://doi.org/10.7273/Y2VS-1949.
Bio
Tegan Pyke is a PhD candidate in Digital Culture at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her research lies in the realm of digital literature, focusing on its design, archival, canonisation, and the differences between institutional versus community practice, with a particular interest in collaborative and emergent narratives. In 2021, she worked with the British Library formulating a quality assurance process for the New Media Writing Prize archival collection.