Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary by N. Katherine Hayles

Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary Reviews

• 
  Michael

  In Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary (2008), N. Katherine Hayles argues that we cannot understand electronic literature through the lens of print (3); instead, we need to attend to the materiality of the text and moves it makes specific to its own materials and modes. She questions the notion of privileging the hyperlink as the distinguishing characteristic of digital literature because print media has analogous technologies, such as the footnote, references, etc. Additionally, we should question the supposed "user power" that many attribute to the hyperlink, because hyperlinks are already limited selections made by creators (31).
  
  In Chapter 2, she describes the "feedback loops" in which "the human and the digital computer [are:] partners in a dynamic heterarchy bound together by intermediating dynamics" (83, 47) — that is, the human and the computer are increasingly bound together in complex ways. She builds on this in Chapter 3, where she argues that both "People and machines are embodied, and the specificities of their embodiments can best be understood in the recursive dynamics whereby they coevolve with one another" (129). Our bodies' relationships with technologies are one of "open-ended recursivity" (130).
  
  Hayles notes the important aspect that all print material is already digital in its production process. In Chapter 5, Hayles argues that print should actually be understood as an output of digital files, not simply a separate medium from the digital. She writes that "The digital leaves its mark on print in new capabilities for innovative typography, new aesthetics for book design, and in the near future new modes of marketing" (159).
• 
  Thomas

  (Read for thesis)
  Slightly dated by now but still incredible. 4.5
• 
  Avery

  Excellent book, 5/5
  
  Favorite line is when she calls rumsfeld a zen poet.
  
  Her concept of machine cognition, that gets developed more in Unthought, has its outlines in this work. Essential reading for a critical theorist.
• 
  Anthony

  Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary was one of my assigned texts for a class on the effects of digital technology on reading. N. Katherine Hayles does a good job giving an overview of the evolving genre of electronic literature and introduces some of the effects it will have as we move into the future. However, due to the density of the language and concepts Hayles includes to make her points, she limits the accessibility of her work almost to the point of distracting the reader from her overall message.
  
  The book is split into five sections and contains a CD containing various examples of electronic literature (a great resource to help illustrate the various examples Hayles brings up throughout the text). The first section provides an introduction to electronic literature: how the genre was born, what are the various types of electronic literature and how they evolved to their current state, and a general discussion of the effects of electronic literature. This section is a great primer for those uninitiated in electronic literature (including me), but is often handicapped by the complexity of language. Section two brings up the concept of intermediation, or the process of transforming information from one type of media to the next wherein each component process adds an aspect or characteristic crucial to the final product. Hayles dives deep into this topic and provides insights into just how much work can go into interacting with information. Section three analyzes how the cultural and environmental context can play a huge part in our understanding of information and in the process of intermediation. In section four, Hayles then goes into how electronic literature will fit in with modern computing and analysis. Lastly, section five is about the future of literature and what part electronic literature will play in it.
  
  The biggest problem I had with the book was just how hard it was to read. It felt like I spent more time going to a dictionary or to a search engine trying to figure out what she is trying to say. This “slowing down” effect is compounded when you combine the troublesome word choices with concepts or ideas that play a big part in the book but are not well described. In the end, I managed to make it through, but my experience was not as enjoyable or smooth as it could have been.
  
  Overall, Hayles does a good job pulling in various examples and topics to help the reader through her arguments. Her points that she brings up are very intriguing and helped me understand the history, impact, and future of the genre of electronic literature. As someone who never spent a lot of time thinking about how we interact with media, I found the book very thought-provoking. However, the language and sometimes ill-explained concepts distracted me from fully immersing myself in the arguments and greatly reduced from my experience. Electronic Literature is a good introductory text, but expect to spend a lot of time looking things up somewhere else.
• 
  Kevin

  This book is a survey of arguments for how literature is being changed and the effects that it may lead to.
  
  Despite being, relatively, recently published I found that much of her content focused on dated technology and was at often times chaotic in linking topics.
  
  She delved too far into technical details that I found unnecessary. For instance she often referenced binary code (the fundamental way a computer is told how to function), transistors (what the binary code drives to perform the function), and even voltage levels. This seemed irrelevant to the effect on how technology is changing literature and I imagine would lead to great confusion to the less technically knowledgeable. Though it is good to know that someone who is leading the field in this research knows both the technical and literary theories well.
  
  I did find that she included many research references that covered a wide range of fields (neural evolution, visual arts, education, etc.) and that helps in branching out to finding more in depth books and papers on the topic. It is unclear to me who her intended audience was and I hope that when I look into her white papers I will find more elaboration on the things she touched on.
  
  To her credit, she did included a fair amount of examples and posed many open ended questions that I ended up reflecting on which opened my mind to the possibilities of the future.
• 
  Chris Friend

  Let me be shallow for a moment: several things are annoying me about this book, and they unfortunately have nothing to do with the content. 1) Pages are too glossy and too easily glare with light from behind the reader. 2) Book smells bad. Usually I'm a dork who loves the smell of new books; this is the first time I've not liked the scent of a book's production. 3) No chapter numbers in footers. Why the text's title must be printed on both sides of each spread, but the chapter number should only appear on that chapter's first page is not only nonsensical but also highly inefficient.
  
  For a book all about hyping why electronic texts are just so über-cool, this one's annoying as all get-out when it comes to a physical manifestation.
• 
  Jeff

  I found the introductory chapter interesting, as it describes and locates the discussion of computer technology in the evolving literary landscape. I'd recommend to stop reading there. The following chapters are dense, should be reserved for specialists in the field, and diverge greatly from what I took to be the thesis.
  
  I'm a print aficionado, and will need patience engaging in a literature that seems dependent on postmodern ontology rather than traditional narrative and discovery. This book does at least initiate my personal avenue into what will, inevitable, come.
  
  This review, after all, was generated, all 1s and 0s, from a frickin' phone.
• 
  Sandi

  Though she digresses at times this was an excellent introductory book on digital literature, covering a gamut of material in a condensed volume. The ending is perhaps over-optimistic and I disagree that the digital has been pivotal to conceptualizing some of the works she's mentioned, but overall a great way to get a long reading-list and understand some of the basic questions surrounding the study.
• 
  Jane Hammons

  I learned a lot of things I needed to know from this book. Also a great resource. The lit on the cd that is included seems dated to me now as I've started reading current electronic lit, but I needed the foundation and theory in order to get a critical perspective and also to teach students how to read electronic lit in an academic setting.
• 
  Chris Cook

  I read this book for a graduate school course in creative writing. It was interesting, but the more I read about electronic literature, the more I think it's not going to last the test of time. It comes with a CD of electronic literature samples, which I look forward to perusing, but in general, I think it's a somewhat trumped up "art form."
• 
  Ben

  a cogent attempt at canon-building for an emergent class of digital literature, from classic hypertext to more contemporary flash-based curiosities. practically and philosophically savvy, as are most of hayles' works.
• 
  Conrad

  N.K. Hayles's "How We Became Posthuman," which is about nearly everything and only a little about its title, really took the top of my head off.
  
  So I wouldn't mind giving this a try, even though my interest in non-print literature is really thin.
• 
  Joe Nelis

  Great look into the break between how we read traditional literature and electronic texts/new media, as well as the relationship between reader embodiment and electronic (computational, coded) reading experiences.
• 
  Jasmine

  I thought the content was informative and interesting but it kept making me want to take a nap.
• 
  Chad Harrison

  She says some completely crazy things in here. Well-written and definitely has some important things to say, but kind of goes off the deep end.