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Introduction |
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Software Issues |
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Syllabus |
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Course Requirements |
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Required Reading Materials |
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Assignments |
More about the Class
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Work by Class Alumni |
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Essay in Kairos about Class |
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E-mail Instructor for Further Information |
For a detailed discussion of how the class operates, along with essays and work samples by former students, see Minding the Frontier: Teaching Hypertext Poetry and Fiction Online (Kairos, Fall 1998).
You may have never read or written electronic poetry or fiction. You may not even be sure what it is. That's OK. You've come to the right place. Don't be worried either if you're not a computer whiz. The only prerequisites for this course (besides access to a computer and the Web) are a love of language, a desire to touch other people with it, and a willingness to try something new. On the other hand, if you've already acquired some skill with electronic text, rest assured that we'll find ways to hone and focus those skills.
Electronic literature draws upon hypertext, animated text, audio-video elements, game-like interaction, and other techniques to create experiences beyond the reach of print. This exciting new genre has become a passion for many of the writers (like me) who have taken it up. I hope to infect you with this passion. The experience of working with the electronic medium should also give you insights into yourself as a writer by forcing you to approach your art in new ways.
This course will give you a broad sampling of many varieties of electronic literature, so you'll gain a good understanding of the genre and find inspiration and models for your own writing. The workshop portion of the class will focus on you as a writer--helping you to sharpen your skills and develop your voice. We'll cover the technical and conceptual matters that you'll need to master as both a reader and a writer of electronic text.
The on-line structure of this class makes it uniquely suited to accommodating different interests and levels of technical skill, since we can maintain multiple discussion threads simultaneously. It will also give you lots of extra writing practice. On the other hand, the electronic environment won't prevent us from developing the sort of supportive spirit of community that fosters confidence and productivity in a writer. What on-line interaction lacks in physical closeness it can make up for in intensity. Cyberspace doesn't just open its doors for 2 hours once a week--it's there 24 hours a day.
Once you're comfortable with the concepts behind electronic literature and the software for creating it, the creative flood gates will open (with any luck) and you'll start producing stories or poems to share with the class. Throughout the term, your classmates and I will provide honest, constructive criticism of your work, and you in turn will critique the output of each classmate.
The following course outline lays out other things that will be going on in class as well. Though I've assigned topics to specific weeks, this outline will be a set of flexible guidelines rather than a rigid schedule. I intend to let the course adapt itself to your individual interests and needs as much as possible.
As each new area of electronic literature is introduced, we'll look at printed precursors to the new digital developments. Electronic work will seem less like foreign territory when you begin to explore its roots in printed literature. Then we'll look at wide-ranging examples of the many approaches possible in the new digital medium. I assign only two readings about e-literature, but I'll recommend additional material for interested students. We'll also cover the technical aspects of fashioning electronic texts, from both the theoretical and the practical angles.
We'll have a guest "appearance" on-line by a prominent figure in the field who will answer questions from students.
Student Orientation: During this week, students will learn how to find their way around DIAL's on-line campus and how to interact in the on-line classroom.
What is electronic literature? We'll start with a capsule overview of digital poetry and fiction in its many forms. We'll also talk about what it means to venture out into this new territory as both a writer and a reader.
Software Options: An overview of the software available to you for working in this medium.
Resources: Publishers, Web sites, directories.
Assignment: Read my article Writing for the New Millennium; Open-work: Dining at the Interstices, by Katherine Hayles; and A Reader's Guide, by Stephanie Strickland.
Getting started on your own work: We'll talk about how to use the medium effectively and how to adapt its unique possibilities to your own individual writing style.
Prototyping: How to plan a work so you can build it in the most efficient manner.
The Multimedia Experience: Visual and kinetic literature; audio, video, and animation.
Interactivity, Part I: Hypertext poetry and fiction; theories of hypertext; avoiding the problems of hypertext.
Assignment: Read "What Interactive Narratives Do That Print Narratives Cannot" from Douglas' The End of Books.
On-Line Guest: TBA
Interactivity, Part II: Literary games; games vs. hypertext.
Interactivity, Part III: Nonhypertextual interaction (rollover poems, "intratexts").
Indeterminacy: Generated text and randomization.
Other Approaches: Reader collaboration; poetry as program code.
The Finished Piece: Making sure readers have everything they need to negotiate your work; archival considerations.
Beta Testing: Uncovering problems; learning how readers will respond to your work.
Publishing opportunities: How to get your work published on the Web or on disk.
Keeping in touch: Mailing lists, conferences, Web resources.
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"The End of Books--Or Books without End? Reading Interactive Narratives," by Jane Yellowlees Douglas (University of Michigan Press, 2000) |
The most important assignment will be the original electronic poetry and fiction that students create. Students will upload these projects to the New School classroom (or post the URLs for them) so they can be read by the instructor and other students. Responses to reading assignments will be posted in the class Discussion area.
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Contact Robert Kendall at
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