How does literature change when writers explore digital media and books circulate within media networks? From flash poetry and hypertext novels to Twitter fiction and innovative print novels: this class will study a range of literary genres across different media formats. We will seek to understand both the uniqueness of digital texts and the continuities between new media writing and older forms of experimental writing. We will also consider how media can shape literary genres: how, for example, might a print novel like Mark Z. Danielewsk’s House of Leaves compare to The Silent History, a novel written for the iPad? Topics for discussion will include: emerging models of authorship; experiments with the print book; the poetics of code; theories of media change; and the development of new reading practices (such as distracted reading, browsing, and play).
