The digitization of the publishing business has provided publishers with new media and new means of distribution, which in turn have created new modes of reading. The impact of the digital revolution on the production and distribution of literature has already been widely discussed, but much less has been written about how current media developments have affected reading and readers. A central thesis of this special issue is that the phenomenon of reading should be studied from various disciplinary perspectives. Reading as a phenomenon evolves in the intersections among media developments, literary trends, and social practices. By bringing together scholars from literary theory, media studies, aesthetics, anthropology, psychology, and linguistics, the special issue explores different perspectives on how the technological, sensorial, cognitive, participatory, and aesthetic aspects of reading have evolved in recent decades. Reading practices are changing rapidly in close conjunction with the evolving formats in which literature is distributed to its readers. The purpose of the special issue is to provide a forum in which to rethink existing categories and challenge prevalent notions of reading.
Traditionally, the printed book has been the preferred mode of delivery for literature, to such an extent that the book’s status as a medium has been practically invisible. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the mediality of the book affects the way we read. The interpretation of literature is not just a matter of scrutinizing the text itself but of analysing the complex interplay between form, content and medium. In 2012 Jennifer Egan published the story ‘Black Box’ via Twitter. The story has subsequently been published in various other media, such as magazines, printed books and as an audiobook. This multimodal publication history necessitates new analytical strategies that can investigate what happens to our notions of a literary work when the literary text appears in several media at once. Taking off from an analysis of ‘Black Box’ and its various embodiments and drawing on John Bryant’s concept of ‘the fluid text’ the article discusses what happens to the literary work when it is dispersed between various media.
The final part of the recent anthology Serialization in Popular Culture (2014) is called 'Digital serialization' and is devoted to 'the influence of digital technologies on serial form.' The chapters throughout the anthology focus on modern serial phenomena such as TV series and computer games, but apart from a chapter on serial fiction in the 19th Century, literature is conspicuously absent. However, the digital revolution has also left its mark on literature and given rise to new publishing strategies, including a resurgence of different forms of serialization. Some of the most notable examples of digital serial fiction are published via Twitter, and through analyses of recent Twitter stories by Jennifer Egan and David Mitchell the article discusses how the micro-serialization of Twitter fiction both differs from and draws on the pre-digital tradition of serial fiction. In order to address these differences and similarities, the analyses focus on two interrelated aspects of serialization, temporality and interaction. Furthermore, they discuss the promotional dimension of Twitter fiction that arises as the financial dictates of legacy publishing intersect with fiction distributed via digital social media.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.