Literature

N. Katherine Hayles' text "Electronic Literature: What is it?" explores the meaning of electronic literature as it pertains to the year 2007. However, as we discussed in class on Tuesday, many technological advances have been made in the past ten years, rendering this text in some ways useless to people nowadays. I find it rather interesting that Hayles speaks so objectively and factual about a topic that is actually subjective, as electronic literature means something very different to people currently than it did to people of previous generations ten years ago. While literature in itself can be timeless, as we may read books written hundreds of years ago and grow just as connected to each character in a book written this year. However, something that we touched upon in class resonated with me: electronics are advancing at such a quick speed that it makes electronic literature from one generation exceedingly different from that of another generation. This separates electronic literature from other forms of literature. While this distinction can make it difficult for a member of one generation to understand the electronic literature of a different generation, these distinctions are also very beneficial. The advancement of technology and electronic literature as a whole implies that we are constantly discovering new ways of understanding literature. Literature has grown into something that can be analyzed and manipulated, as opposed to something that must simply be read.