Critical Introduction

As society has evolved due to the mass integration of digital culture, so have the ways in which people interact with information and literature. The analysis of pieces of electronic literature including Cleverbot, a chatbot that wants to believe that it is human; The Sweet Old Etcetera, a kinetic poetry engine adapted from E. E. Cummings’ “My Sweet Old Etcetera” which follows user movements to grow a poetry landscape; Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales, a set of poems incorporating color arrays to drive meaning; Everybody Dies, interactive fiction exploring death and the concept of living through revival; and Project for Tachistoscope [Bottomless Pit], a stream of consciousness narrative consisting of visual and audible stimulants, will work to answer the research question: in what ways do the affordances of e-literature shape the interaction between readers and the literary medium beyond the scope of traditional text? E-literature enhances the reader’s consumption of literature by appealing to many human faculties by implementing multimodality. As Jessica Pressman states, “you can try to describe literature … using thousands of words. But it becomes much clearer when you just look at it for just three seconds” (“Best Books”). Through navigation, path independence, language processing, and visual stimuli, e-literature shapes an explorative interaction between readers and the literary medium, providing a richer user experience than would traditional text.

Unlike traditional text, which is read in a standard left to right manner, e-literature has the potential to be navigated in more unconventional ways through the use of tools such as hyperlinks and buttons. Navigation is where user choice and author control coexist. Whereas traditional text contains one path, in e-literature, there are infinite possibilities, allowing the user to interact with the medium in a more personalized setting. Essentially, navigation allows the user to determine the plot line of the piece within the framework of the author’s intention. Pressman describes how having tools such as mouse clicks and user inputs not only changes the unique manner in which the reader interprets the text but also determines how the piece of digital literature itself performs (“Navigating”). The piece has no structure until the reader acts on the piece and sets a sequence of events in place. This aspect is clearly portrayed in pieces such as The Sweet Old Etcetera and Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales. In The Sweet Old Etcetera, a set of parentheses sprouts lines of words in the shape of a sapling, and from its branches grow more word branches, but only if the user clicks the right places in the text. Utilizing navigation with visual results in this interactive manner makes a statement on the creative process of poetry in a way traditional texts cannot. In Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales, upon clicking on different images and colors, new poems appear. Here, navigation relies on the visual components of the work to determine path options. As Pressman says, e-literature’s navigational aspect is able to make reading “not only about accessing or receiving texts but also about producing and performing them,” empowering the user in a way that creates an adventurous experience that traditional literature could not provide (“Navigating”).

Traditional literature is linear, but e-literature’s dynamism makes it multidimensional. Specifically, interactive fiction and chatterbots best utilize this nonlinear navigation structure that mimics aspects of life where one is isolated in the present, remembers the past, and can only move forward, but has many choices to be made along the way that affect their situation. This is best defined as path independence. Path independence is an extension of navigation. Users have completely unique experiences in every interaction because the navigation options are expansive and based on user command inputs. For example, in Everybody Dies, at any given point, multiple commands can be input to have the character perform different tasks; the character can die at various points, with each death influencing the way the rest of the game works; the character remembering his past lives, causing the story to become more surreal each time. Path independence can also be characterized by user commands to be processed and responded to by the computer. Currently, interactive fiction games are nearly impossible to play the same way twice, and they have many possible paths. In the future, computers are expected to become more intelligent in this capacity and generate outcomes by working with the player each time to create a truly new experience, writing the game as it is played (Pulizzi). This move towards a customized experience is also seen in language processing, where programs are created to hold conversations with humans. Path Independence is the infantile beginning of this notion, while traditional text is static since there is only one way in which to navigate it. E-literature not only allows a user to navigate through a work, construct infinite possibilities, and create meaning, but it also processes natural language to command the path of the work via mere language, allowing for the closest human-literature interaction possible. Because the user directly and organically communicates with the work, the computer’s output is directly dependent on the user’s input, even if the process is dependent on the author’s programming. Rollo Carpenter’s Cleverbot is a type of chatterbot that interactively communicates with the user via text; it strikes up an entirely automated conversation. According to the University of Pennsylvania, “chatbots” are programs in which a human user can “talk” to the program with the aim of having a logical conversation that would pass the Turing test. Especially in the case of Cleverbot, the natural language processing ability creates a deep connection between the user and the e-literature. This is an intimacy with the work unseen in traditional text, which does not allow for user input. Furthermore, in Jim Munroe’s Everybody Dies, the user commands the main character using natural language commands, which the e-literature interprets, performs, and then responds to. Whereas in written literature, the author controls the characters and the plot which a reader has no control, in interactive fiction, the user is the main character and enabler of the plot through written commands and other interaction. This two-way form of engagement using humans’ most natural form of communication, language, creates a vibrant literary experience that written text cannot.

In addition to language processing, visual stimulation leads to greater reader involvement with the literature by invoking multiple human senses. Visual stimuli focuses on how visual effects serve as an alternative to text through subliminal pictorial messages. In Chemical Landscapes Digital Tales, Edward Falco uses images created by mixing chemicals in order to add new dimensions to his poetry. Without the images, the poems would look merely nonsensical, and the interjections of color would appear random. The visual imagery helps form deeper symbolisms than would works of pure text. The artistic background creates an impression for the poem to be read. For example, “Rough Seas” are the first two words you read after seeing a turbulent blue-green background which instantly defines the poem before it is read (Falco). The visual stimulation becomes an element of the poem itself whereas images in traditional text are typically supplementary. While traditional text has the capacity to include pictures, the plethora of other features in Clifford’s The Sweet Old Etcetera utilize kinesthetic elements, as the words and drawings move across the screen. The same effect is found within William Poundstone’s Project for Tachistoscope [Bottomless Pit], where images and backgrounds accompany every word within the story. This allows the reader to make sense of what they are reading even if their eyes do not catch every word. As shown in the study Video, Audio, and Kinesthetic Effects on Memory Retention and Recall, visual stimulation increases brain activity and memory in comparison to only reading words, demonstrating the beneficial impact of multimodality on the reading experience (Udomon et al.). The visual component of e-literature also allows the author to have more creativity, thus allowing for a greater impact. In Computing Literature : Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice (ELMCIP), Rettenberg and Baldwin assert that the root of e-literature is creativity, and technology is merely the vessel through which authors can more directly channel this creativity to readers (43). In essence, the use of visual stimuli allows authors to channel their creativity via e-literature. Visual components of e-literature allow for a deeper user experience coming from both ends of the author-reader relationship, allowing for the piece to have a greater impact.

As evidenced in the samples above, e-literature shapes an explorative interaction between readers and the literary medium through navigation, language processing, visual stimuli, and path independence, thus creating a rich user experience. However, there must be some tradeoffs between e-literature and written literature, as e-literature hasn’t become equally widespread. Rettenberg and Baldwin assert that although e-literature has spread more slowly than conventional forms of literature, it is gaining more popularity via “scholarship, criticism, and popular discussion” (44). Despite e-literature's superior features, it is important to acknowledge that until people are more widely exposed to it, it will never completely overwrite classic printed literature. Nonetheless, with time, e-literature could one day become literature's final frontier.