Electronic literature

Some stories live on screens.

You read them on a tablet or phone. These stories use computers to work. In some stories, you click links. This lets you choose the path. You can make the story go your way. Some poems even have moving words. This is a new way to read. It is fun to explore. Do you like stories on screens?

Some stories live on screens. This is called electronic literature. You read these works on computers or phones. They are not like regular books. You cannot easily print them on paper. This is because they use digital tools to work.

One kind is hypertext fiction. These stories use links. You click a link to move to a new page. This lets you choose your own path. Another kind is digital poetry. In these poems, words might move or dance. Some poems are even made by computer programs. These are called generative literature. A program can make many different poems.

In the 1970s, text adventure games became popular. One famous game was called Adventure. It was a type of interactive fiction. You made choices to move through a cave. Your choices could lead to a win or a loss. Today, people use social media for new kinds of stories. These include things like Instapoetry. Electronic literature is always changing as new tech arrives.

Electronic literature is a special way of making stories and poems using digital tools. These works are born on computers, tablets, or mobile phones. They are different from regular books because they use things like interactivity and moving parts. You cannot easily print these works on paper. This is because the magic happens through the digital screen.

Readers often help create the story by making choices. This makes the experience feel very personal and alive.

There are many ways these digital stories work. In hypertext fiction, you click on links to move between different parts of a story. These parts are sometimes called lexias. In digital poetry, the words might move across your screen in an animation. Some works use a method called generative literature. This is when a computer program follows rules to create new poems or stories. A single program can make many different versions of a poem.

This type of art has a long and interesting history. It began with computer programs in the 1950s. In 1952, Christopher Strachey wrote a program that made love letters. In 1959, a scientist named Max Bense wrote Stochastic Texts. This program used a computer to make random sentences. By the 1960s, poets began using computers to experiment with new styles. People even created early text-based games during this time.

New kinds of digital stories appeared in later decades. In the 1970s, text adventure games became very popular. One famous game was called Adventure, created by Will Crowther. It let players make choices that led to different endings. In the 1980s, people used floppy disks to share hypertext fiction. By the 2000s, digital poetry became a big trend. Today, people use social media for things like Instapoetry or Twitterature.

Because this art is so new, it faces some hard jobs. Many works are hard to save for the future. This happens when the old computers or software stop working. These works also do not have ISBN numbers like regular books. This means they are hard to find in library catalogues. Groups like the Electronic Literature Organization were started in 1999 to help. They host conferences to support the people who write and study these digital works.

Electronic literature, also known as digital literature, is a unique genre of writing. It uses digital capabilities like interactivity and multimodality for aesthetic purposes. These works are "born digital," meaning they are created specifically for digital environments. They are intended to be read on devices like computers, tablets, or mobile phones. Because these works rely on digital elements, they cannot be easily printed. If you tried to print them, you would lose the very things that make them special.

There are several distinct ways these works function. In hypertext fiction, a reader moves through a story by selecting links. These fragments of text are often called lexias. In digital poetry, the text might be animated or kinetic. This means the words move across the screen in specific ways. Some works use algorithmic text generation, which is also called generative literature. In these cases, a single program can create many different poems or stories. Other forms include literary chatbots, which are conversational digital artefacts.

The history of this field begins much earlier than the modern internet. In the 1950s, the first computer-generated literature appeared. In 1952, Christopher Strachey wrote a program for the Manchester Mark 1. This program generated short love letters through combinatory poetry. Later, in 1959, Max Bense created Stochastic Texts. This program used a Z22 computer to produce random sentences. It used the logic of the machine to create its own aesthetic style. These early works are seen as important precursors to modern AI-generated literature.

The 1960s brought even more experimentation with art and technology. In 1961, Nanni Balestrini composed Tape Mark I on an IBM 7070. This was the first Italian work of electronic literature. During this decade, the program Auto-Beatnik was created to mimic Beat poetry. In 1964, Mabel Addis and William McKay developed The Sumerian Game. This was likely the first narrative computer game. By 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum programmed ELIZA. This established the genre of conversational bots. This era also saw Ted Nelson coin the terms hypertext and hypermedia.

In the 1970s, interactive fiction became a major cultural force. A significant milestone was the 1975 game Adventure, created by Will Crowther. Also known as Colossal Cave Adventure, it allowed readers to make choices. These choices could lead to a successful ending or an untimely death. The game spread rapidly through the ARPANET and inspired many others. One famous successor was the text adventure game Zork, released in 1977.

Some scholars call this game the "Gilgamesh of video games" because it was so foundational.

The 1980s saw the rise of personal computers and new communities. Interactive fiction became a commercial success through companies like Infocom. At the same time, hypertext fiction grew in different regions. In Canada, Bp Nichol published computer poems in 1984. In the United States, Judy Malloy published Uncle Roger on The WELL in 1986. The first ACM Hypertext conference was held in 1987. This helped writers realize they were part of a growing movement. In France, digital literature was closely tied to the Oulipo movement.

Today, electronic literature has entered a third generation. This generation uses social media platforms for literary expression. Examples include Instapoetry and Twitterature. These works are often part of a broader digital culture. Some scholars include fan fiction and creepypasta in this field. They argue these are born-digital genres that rely on online communities. Even if the text is linear, the social context makes them digital in nature.

Despite its growth, the field faces significant challenges regarding preservation. Electronic literature is difficult to archive because hardware and software become obsolete. When the original device stops working, the work may become impossible to read. Additionally, these works are not part of the traditional publishing industry. They often lack ISBN numbers and are hard to find in library catalogues. To help, the Electronic Literature Organization was established in 1999. This group supports the study and publishing of digital works through conferences and events.