Table Of ContentDigital Literature and Critical
Theory
The aim at the core of this book is a synthesis of increasingly popular
and culturally significant forms of digital literature on the one hand,
and established literary and critical theory on the other: reading digital
texts through the lens of canonical theory, but also reading this more
traditional theory through the lens of digital texts and related media.
In a field which has often regarded the digital as apart from traditional
literature and theory, this book highlights continuities in order to analyse
digital literature as part of a longer literary tradition. Using examples
from social media to video games and works particularly by postmodern
and poststructuralist theorists, Digital Literature and Critical Theory
contextualises digital forms among their analogue precursors and traces
ongoing social developments which find expression in these cultural
phenomena, including power dynamics between authors and readers,
the individual in (post-)modernity, consumerism, and the potential for
intersubjective exchange.
Annika Elstermann is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the English
Department at Heidelberg University. Her approach to literary and
cultural analysis is generally via socio-political contexts of production
and reception, and corresponding literary and social theory. She has
previously published papers on player immersion in video games, and
computer-generated text.
Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature
Multilingual Currents in Literature, Translation and Culture
Edited by Rachael Gilmour and Tamar Steinitz
Rewriting the American Soul
Trauma, Neuroscience and the Contemporary Literary Imagination
Anna Thieman
Milton and the Early Modern Culture of Devotion
Milton and the Early Modern Culture of Devotion
Naya Tsentourou
No Dialect Please, You’re a Poet
English Dialect in Poetry in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Edited by Claire Hélie, Elise Brault-Dreux and Emilie Loriaux
Mediterranean Slavery and World Literature
Captivity Genres from Cervantes to Rousseau
Edited by Mario Klarer
Literature with a White Helmet
The Textual-Corporeality of Being, Becoming, and
Representing Refugees
Lava Asaad
Literary Fictions of the Contemporary Art System
Global Perspectives in Spanish and Portuguese
Carlos Garrido Castellano
Digital Literature and Critical Theory
Annika Elstermann
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Interdisciplinary-Perspectives-on-Literature/book-series/RIPL
Digital Literature and Critical
Theory
Annika Elstermann
First published 2023
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 Annika Elstermann
The right of Annika Elstermann to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-42241-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-42242-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-36190-9 (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-000-82649-4 (eBook+)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003361909
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Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Introduction 1
1 Core Examples 12
2 Partitioned Works and Seriality 38
3 Participatory Storytelling 79
4 Interactive Text Production 129
5 Computer-Generated Text 160
6 Conclusion 176
Bibliography 182
Index 194
Acknowledgements
Much of the content of this book is concerned with communication, res-
onance, intersubjective exchange, and dialogue. Its production process
was not a solipsistic enterprise either, and while it would be impossible
for me to thank every single person who has made my life easier over
the past few years, a number of people have shaped my approach to this
topic and have helped me learn and grow so much that it would be neg-
ligent not to mention them here.
This book was originally submitted as a PhD thesis at Heidelberg Uni-
versity (then titled Literature in a Digital Age), and I have benefitted
immensely from the privilege of writing it while being employed at the
English Department, and embedded in its academic community. For this,
I first of all want to thank Prof. Dr. Peter Paul Schnierer, who opened the
door to begin with, and whose unwavering faith has enabled me to take
so many opportunities and do so much more than I would have thought
possible. Exploring the different facets of not just academic research in
various fields, but also lecturing, teaching, and administration has been
such a valuable experience, and none of it would have been possible
without the trust and the freedom Professor Schnierer gave me to pursue
my interests.
Few aspects of the process of researching and writing this book have
brought me more joy than critical debate about the topics I was work-
ing on and the theories I linked them to, and no one could have been a
better debate partner for me than Dr. Heiko Jakubzik, who not only was
the first reader of every chapter, but also listened to and questioned ideas
as they formed, and whose genuine interest in the topic provided much-
needed resonance, sharpened my arguments, broadened my theoretical
horizon, and pushed me to keep exploring. I will forever be grateful for
his relentless support and encouragement, his generosity, and above all
his friendship.
For her willingness to proofread even at the shortest notice, and her
ability to produce pertinent notes on any piece of writing, I am eter-
nally indebted to Claire Earnshaw. Much more importantly, over years of
friendship (with many more to come), Claire has amplified the joys of the
Acknowledgements vii
writing process and unconditionally cheered me on through the rough
patches, and been a great collaborator for various academic projects and
countless coffee breaks.
Finally, I want to thank Hannes Elstermann, who has supported me
since long before I started this project, who gives me the space that I need
for the odd way I work, and who has always believed in me; and Anna-
belle Bohrdt and Adrian Franke, who have been there from the start,
have kept me grounded, motivated me with their own motivation, and
are a constant and a comfort in my life.
Though I have to omit many people here who selflessly offered their
time and aid again and again, I want to thank at least a few by name,
in no particular order, for their various help and support – be it aca-
demic, social, culinary, or editorial: Kathrin Pfister, Dr. Michael Iser-
mann, Prof. Dr. Dieter Schulz, Matthias Heil, Prof. Dr. Dietmar Schloss,
Sebastian Tants-Boestad, David Eisler, Julia Kirsten Pantiru, and Jennifer
Abbott, Anita Bhatt, and Polly Dodson (formerly) at Routledge.
There is not enough space to individually name everyone who has my
heartfelt gratitude, but I hope they know that I mean it. I have been very
fortunate never to have been isolated in the process of writing this book,
but to instead have been surrounded by a community of interesting, intel-
ligent, and supportive people who made me feel at home, socially and
academically, from the start. There is no way of knowing what would
have been, but without the dialogue and exchange, I am sure this would
have been a very different and, to me, far less worthwhile endeavour.
Introduction
Though it may currently be the most prevalent mode of prose narrative,
the novel as we know it today has only existed for a few centuries – a
short time relative to the history of human civilisation and storytelling.
Just like drama and poetry, it evolved from other forms and has itself
been undergoing continuous transformation. Changes in societies, includ-
ing technological advances, have always been reflected not only in the
subject matter of our stories, but also in the way that those stories are
produced and received. In contrast to oral tradition, the spread of script
and writing brought with it the creation of a textual artefact which can be
transmitted in a more stable form disconnected from its original speaker
or author. Moveable-type printing and the mass production of written
texts not only revolutionised the distribution and accessibility of litera-
ture, but in the process also raised questions about copyright and intellec-
tual property – and about a work’s aura, authenticity, and the alienation
of the final product from its production process. During the industrial
revolution, gas lamps (and later electric lights) allowed for reading after
dark and, along with urbanisation catalysed by new working conditions,
helped increase literacy even in working-class households, diversifying the
audience composition and opening the market for new types of literature
as well as new groups of authors. The lasting impact of those technologi-
cal developments is undeniable, and no doubt the rapid advance of digital
media has already carried – and will continue to carry – a similarly large
significance in terms of how we produce and consume literature.
Since the hypertext stories of the 1980s and 1990s, digital literature
has branched out into many different forms and with widespread internet
access in many parts of the world, content distribution is often global and
immediate, its curation highly individualised, and access to it practically
constant. The proliferation of modes through which stories are being
told in a digital context – from social media to online fanfiction to video
games – means at the very least a medial shift away from traditional
ink-on-paper; and as technology permeates our daily lives, so do elec-
tronically transmitted stories.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003361909-1
