Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary (WARD PHILLIPS LECTUR)
“Electronic literature is an emerging literary genre that challenges the traditional understanding of literary criticism and theory. It is this challenge, in part, that is responsible for keeping the emerging genre out of the classroom, and with this work, Hayles means to grant it entry. Drawing on technology-related literary criticism and theory, she creates a new space for electronic literature to be read and understood. She argues that the impact of the digital on modern writing cannot be underestimated.” —Library Journal“Hayles surveys cutting-edge electronic literature in the 21st century and provides a CD-ROM including dozens of complete works. . . . One argument runs through the book: human bodies and technologies are always mutually forming and reshaping one another in what the author calls 'recursive feedback loops.' . . . as an introduction to the avant-garde in computers and literature the book has value.” —Choice“Electronic Literatureis much more than a didactic summary of Hayles’s thinking on the digital revolution in one of the bastions of traditional humanist culture: the book. Although this aspect of the book is far from being unimportant . . .Electronic Literatureis also a synthesis of the research in the field as a whole, and in this sense the best possible critical overview that is currently available. Moreover, it is extremely up to date, given the numerous references to extremely recent sources, and in-depth discussions with all the authors who count in the field.” —Image [&] Narrative“Hayles brings to the discussion a deep legacy of critical thought around digital ontology, narrative, and the technologies of expression. For the uninitiated, Hayle's explication is tremendously useful. She understands not just the texts but also the contexts from which they emerge, and she is able to use electronic literature as a gateway to suggesting new philosophical ways of perceiving collective computations like the stock market.” —Rain Taxi