Electronic Literature and New Social Paradigms

Abstract

Rather than being a continuation of print-based literature, e-literature is a novel practice of experimental writing that foregrounds the new media specificity and the new approaches to writing in programmable media by demonstrating that the institution of the author and literariness as we know it are at stake. Along with the new media specificity (e-literary text is displayed on the screen, stored in digital storage devices, and controlled by software), the e-literary text is embedded in the social in a way that demonstrates some of the key features of current social paradigms. This article explores the shifts of new social paradigms that have influenced e-literary writing and contributed to the birth of the e-literary world as an institution, which enables new media-shaped e-literary pieces to be recognized as works of e-literary art. In doing so, the concept of e-literary service is introduced to describe the specificity of e-literature in terms of goal-oriented and performative practice that leaves aside the institution of stable e-literary work. This article also places great emphasis on understanding the very specific nature of e-literature through its interactions with the new media art.