This course explores the stakes and consequences of literature’s transition from printed to digital forms. How do digital and printed texts differ materially, and how does this affect literary form, authorship, consumption, reception — and society more broadly? What new expressive possibilities are present in “born digital” forms like webcomics, fan fiction, interactive fiction, and videogames? How do social media and online reading communities impact the way that literature is marketed and discussed? Will electronic archives make literature more accessible, or less? How do digital texts challenge existing definitions of what counts as “literature”?
This course explores the stakes and consequences of literature’s transition from printed to digital forms. How do digital and printed texts differ materially, and how does this affect literary form, authorship, consumption, reception — and society more broadly? What new expressive possibilities are present in “born digital” forms like webcomics, fan fiction, interactive fiction, and videogames? How do social media and online reading communities impact the way that literature is marketed and discussed? Will electronic archives make literature more accessible, or less? How do digital texts challenge existing definitions of what counts as “literature”?
