The Aesthetics of Net Literature. Writing, Reading and Playing in Programmable Media (review)

With the advent of computers, novel literary forms have emerged that challenge the traditional understanding of fiction. These projects, which are discussed under terms such as “net literature,” “digital literature,” or “ergodic literature,” redistribute the roles of author, work, and reader. Unlike printed books, their mode of discourse is non-linear. The reader has to navigate a network of paths in order to generate literary sequences. This fundamental openness raises a question: Can the traditional methods and terminologies of literary scholarship be applied to computer-aided literary forms in a fruitful way? In The Aesthetics of Net Literature, edited by Peter Gendolla and Jörgen Schäfer, 16 scholars and artists from Germany, the United States, Finland, Spain and Switzerland take up the task of looking at the “ruptures and upheavals in literary communication though computerized networked media” (9) from a wide variety of perspectives. The volume features contributions by experts from various academic disciplines (communications, literature, computer science) as well as digital media artists. It is a valuable resource for students and scholars who have already set out on their own explorations of the virtual as well as for those wishing to gain an introduction to the breadth and scope of the field. The broad array of topics discussed includes the relationship between literary writing and computer programming ( Jean-Pierre Balpe, Loss Pequeño Glazier), the didactic value of digital media (Laura Borràs Castanyer), and the relationship of narratives to games (Marie-Laure Ryan, Fotis Jannidis).

Terms like “net literature” cover a wide spectrum of phenomena that exploit the features of digital media—text, music, video clips, etc.—in various ways. Many of these projects seem to have little in common with the traditional medium of literary works: the printed book typically does not require a user manual; the only action the reader needs to take is to turn the page. But what are the characteristic features that works in computer-aided media have in common with printed works? What allows us, under altered media conditions, to speak of a field called “literature”? In their contribution “Playing with Signs. Towards an Aesthetic Theory of Net Literature,” Gendolla and Schäfer identify two characteristics that are essential for determining the aesthetic quality of literature in general. First, literature exhibits a use of language that “de-automates through distancing, exhibiting irony, and by using effects of alienation, i.e. through playing with utilitarian processes of communication” (27). Second, the literary text is inextricably bound to a specific medium that “inscribes itself into the contents” (27). Bearing in mind the interplay of texts with their media, Gendolla and Schäfer come to the conclusion that net literature, “in the sense of networked experimental activities, aesthetically refiects the far-reaching (man-machine-)communications, thereby making invisible processes visible and communicable” (28). In the case of the printed novel, the reading process can be described as the recipient’s internalization of an author’s perceptions, but in networked media this internalization is immediately followed by external actions: “‘authors’, ‘readers’, and their ‘media’ are not playing as silent machines but are playing with, against, or into one another in a highly refiexive way” (30).

The complex interplay of literary instances may be the reason why close readings of digital literature, in contrast to theoretical works written about it, are extremely rare, as Roberto Simanowski states in his essay “Holopoetry, Biopoetry and Digital Literature. Close Reading and Terminological Debates.” Simanowski asserts the need for a new hermeneutical approach that takes the fiuidity of digital media into account, i.e. their lack of a fixed shape and their use of images and music in addition to text. Searching for the literary element in various digital works, some of which contain little text (and many of which take digital literature as their own theme), he explores the boundaries of digital literature and digital art. Ultimately, Simanowski maintains, many digital projects remain...