Саживљавање са не-људским у савременој дигиталној књижевности
Еmpathising with the Non-Human in Contemporary electronic Literature

Summary/Abstract: electronic literature has proliferated in the last decades, to the extent thatanthologies of electronic literary works are regularly published and awards givenon a yearly basis, which testifies to the efforts at formalising and institutionalisingthis specific field of literature. environment is a frequent topic in electronic literary works, and there have so far been several works awarded with the New MediaWriting Prize that focus on the environment. This paper deals with two of them: J.r. Carpenter’s The Gathering Cloud (2016) and everest Pipkin’s Anonymous Animal(2022). The paper explores how these two works provide a suitable platform for discussing narrative empathy, which is potentially manifested as readers’ empathisingwith the non-human entities represented in the narratives, primarily animals.The paper relies on the similarities between the material and affective approaches to environmental issues – embodiment and complementary relations between bodies – arguing for the benefits of approaching physical phenomena froman emotional point of view. emotions can be experienced as narrative empathybased on texts’ narrative features such as, among others, paratextual elements, defamiliarisation, or narrative person. The paper describes these features in The Gathering Cloud and Anonymous Animal, which, being digitally born, rely largely on theeffects of interaction and immersion. Paratextual elements are featured in the formof author’s commentaries as well as the accompanying non-verbal material. In thelatter form, paratexts in The Gathering Cloud embody animals, which are in turnestranged with the purpose of indicating burning environmental issues related tothe development of digital technologies. In Anonymous Animal, paratexts are focused on forming an emotional connection between the reader and illustrated animals, and subsequently between the reader and the author, whereas the animals areestranged with the purpose of bringing them closer to human beings. Additionally,Anonymous Animal uses the ambiguous second-person narration, which stressesthe need for connecting and feeling with different living beings.The paper reflects on two important questions. As regards the material approach to the environment, it discusses whether the practice of new media writing,while enabling greater possibilities of the narrative embodying of the environment,might paradoxically be detrimental to that same environment. This question is alsometafictionally dealt with in The Gathering Cloud. As regards the emotional approach, it discusses whether empathising with fictional elements of the environment, as is the case in Anonymous Animal, is sufficient in the contemporary contextwhere environmental problems pose an imminent physical threat. Conclusively,environmental topics position electronic literature as a valid field of supranationalliterary production, urging us to consider and tackle the challenges posed by bothenvironmental issues and digital art.

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