On-line/Off-line. Between Text and Experience Writing as a Lifestyle
On-line/Off-line. Between Text and Experience Writing as a Lifestyle
Contributor(s): Peter Gärdenfors (Editor), William Powers (Editor), Jarosław Płuciennik (Editor), Michał Wróblewski (Editor)
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: on-line/off-line;experience writing;lifestyle;anthropological perspective;literate existence
Summary/Abstract: In times of rapid technological change, enthusiasts of the new often subscribe to the theory of “supersession,” the idea that newer technologies supersede or vanquish older ones. But as scholar of information Paul Duguid has observed, reality is mare interesting and complicated than that. In the 1950s, for instance, when television was becoming popular, there were widespread predictions of radio’s imminent demise. Yet here it is2015 and radio is not only very much a live but has thrown off vibrant digital doppelgängers of itself, in the form of internet radio stations and podcasts. So it goes for all of human culture: There is really no predicting where it will go next.As the articles in this collection make clear, this is especially true of writing in our time, when old and new, on-line and off-line, are mixing, mashing up and recombining so prolifically, no single theory could ever explain it all, let alone foretell its evolution. So it’s fitting that what we have in this volume is not a collection of definitive, supersession-like answers, but a multiplicity of fascinating questions explored in depth. Are microblogs a new literary genre? What happens when Japanese haiku leap across cultures? Is writing inherently an act of individuality, as we tend to believe, or is that idea just “a fruit of modernity”? Such questions will swirl around us for decades to come, and to make our way forward we will need intellectual roadmaps with the wide-ranging curiosity, et al.
Series: Uniwersytet Łódzki
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-7969-822-6
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-7969-821-9
- Page Count: 403
- Publication Year: 2015
- Language: English
Literate Existence in the Digital Space. Contemporary Traces of Identity
Literate Existence in the Digital Space. Contemporary Traces of Identity
(Literate Existence in the Digital Space. Contemporary Traces of Identity)
- Author(s):Ewa Szczęsna
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:19-33
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:identity;digital space;experience of text;textual meaning;intratextual relations
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this study is to present how the development of writing technology influences writing itself. In this paper the analysis is focused on mechanisms of reinterpretation of writing and reading in digital space, in other words, the change in experience of text. To summarize, modern media techniques make reading become writing, when writing becomes clicking (an action taken upon the texture), and clicking becomes the experience of text. Another goal is to present a special role of the texture as the tool of text’s creation as well as the place of cohesion. The importance of semiotic tissue of digital text, especially in the case of digital art, is visible in the formation of intratextual relations. These relations are created in the process of working one element of texture onto another, which allow them to play an important role in the creation of textual meaning.
Text, Writing, School in Anthropological Perspective
Text, Writing, School in Anthropological Perspective
(Text, Writing, School in Anthropological Perspective)
- Author(s):Marta Rakoczy
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:35-47
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:text and writing;anthropological perspective;school;creation;exercise books
- Summary/Abstract:This paper attempts to reveal anthropological structures in the following categories: text and writing; the categories that nowadays require cultural, historical and institutional relativization. The paradigm being maintained is that writing is a mental, individualistic creation and a freely chosen way of life which is a result of late modernity. Moreover, even today it is not the only paradigm and nor is it universally acceptable. This is emphasized and developed upon in the text by using examples from current school exercise books. School – as the main institution of literate initiation, where one experiences one’sfirst mass contact with literature – is an institution in which the practice of writing is regulated by school breaks and is specifically managed for capitalist society’s dual division of time. Writing is specifically a tool which is a well-defined, perceptual and social discipline. However, this discipline does not exclude creativity, as long as we go by its late-modern definition.
The Practice of Writing Fan Fiction: A Fan Fiction Writer’s Tutorial
The Practice of Writing Fan Fiction: A Fan Fiction Writer’s Tutorial
(The Practice of Writing Fan Fiction: A Fan Fiction Writer’s Tutorial)
- Author(s):Lidia Gąsowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:49-61
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:fanfiction;practice of writing;media;new media;readers
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this article is to define fanfiction as a cultural phenomenon rooted in the literary field and created by readers in relation to works published and recognized by the audience itself. Fan confabulation, dreams and planned intrigue is supported by techniques created by the use of new media and aesthetics expressinga desire for brevity, and on the other hand – communication ecstasy. Fanfics creation may be a unique literary experience which also includes debates and discussions as well as the exchange of information on literary forums and chat rooms. It forms a part of the sphere of cultural participation mediated by the media.
I Write. You Write. They Write. The Literary Works of Fandom as a Factor in Integrating the Community
I Write. You Write. They Write. The Literary Works of Fandom as a Factor in Integrating the Community
(I Write. You Write. They Write. The Literary Works of Fandom as a Factor in Integrating the Community)
- Author(s):Agnieszka Oberc
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:63-74
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:fanfiction;fan communities;fandom;writing and reading
- Summary/Abstract:Fanfiction is a fiction based on situations and characters that have been created by someone else. It is written by fans who use original texts to create their own art and culture.Writing fanfiction is something that fans do together. They discuss original texts, share their views and opinions about plot and characters, and create common interpretation that can be used by other fandom members. They also participate in creating new texts by commenting on fanficks published by other fans. Writing is not only a way to express fans opinions about their favourite books and shows, but also an opportunity to spend time with people sharing their interests. Analysis of fan-created texts shows not only its importance to individual fans, but also a vital role writing fanfiction plays in building fan communities and creating bonds between their members.
Approaches Towards Shame in Contemporary Polish Literature
Approaches Towards Shame in Contemporary Polish Literature
(Approaches Towards Shame in Contemporary Polish Literature)
- Author(s):Karolina Sidowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:75-87
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:aesthetics;shame;contemporary Polish literature;experience
- Summary/Abstract:This article focuses on literary approaches to the emotion of shame. My thesis is that literature can be perceived as a tool for overcoming feelings of shame, as it is capable of expressing even the most intimate human experiences in aesthetic terms, outside stereotypical moral judgments. From this perspective I discuss exhibitionistic tendencies on the author’s part and complementary voyeuristic impulses on the part of the reader. In this context I then consider the phenomenon of literary provocation and its function to then analyse two examples from Polish contemporary literature: Polka by M. Gretkowska – a literary journal of pregnancy – and Lovetown by M. Witkowski. Both, in my opinion, offer interesting aesthetic views on intimate but relevant aspects of everyday life.
People You May Know: Homosexual Men’s Identity in the Time of Social Networking Services
People You May Know: Homosexual Men’s Identity in the Time of Social Networking Services
(People You May Know: Homosexual Men’s Identity in the Time of Social Networking Services)
- Author(s):Bartosz Kałużny
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:89-114
- No. of Pages:26
- Keywords:internet-mediated communication;identity;queer studies;social media
- Summary/Abstract:In the following article several key points are highlighted from a doctoral thesis entitled Gay Men, Social Media and Self-presentation: Managing Identities in Gaydar, Facebook and Beyond written by Elijah M. Cassidy at the University of Technology in Queensland, Australia. The dissertation focuses on the ways in which homosexual men, who use both niche and mainstream Social Network Services (SNS), manage their identities therein. The research uncovers the entanglements of various practices employed in both spaces and presents complex privacy concerns. It also refers to manifold peculiarities of Internet-mediated communication and the ambivalent impact of mainstream and niche SNSs on the sense of collectivity of the researched group. Having presented the main ideas of Cassidy’s research I determine the connection between his conclusions and those drawn from two Polish studies which recently treaded the relatively uncharted waters of this research area.
Contemporary Polish Essays: In Search of the Aura of Paintings and Photographs
Contemporary Polish Essays: In Search of the Aura of Paintings and Photographs
(Contemporary Polish Essays: In Search of the Aura of Paintings and Photographs)
- Author(s):Dobrawa Lisak-Gębala
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:115-132
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:literary genre;essay;act of writing;experience;real and literary travel
- Summary/Abstract:When an essay, as a specific form of writing, is conventionally compared to travel, the latter is understood not only as a model of translocation but also as a literary genre. The parallel between essays and travel writings identifies their numerous common elements in text, for instance a movement between the topics, the observer’s visible distance, an intellectual journey (the last term was introduced by Walter Pater in his pioneer reflections on the essay in 1893). The listed similarities encourage the writer of this article to formulate a rudimentary statement: both real and literary travel and the act of writing an essay are usually undertaken to discover a thing worth one’s attention and interest; a thing that, even if commonly known, should be, firstly, experienced, and secondly, depicted in a way that would cast new light on it.
The Hybrid Work of Art as Experience
The Hybrid Work of Art as Experience
(The Hybrid Work of Art as Experience)
- Author(s):Irena Chawrilska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:133-150
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:hybrid work of art;experience;Luigi Pareyson;contemporary reality
- Summary/Abstract:This article focuses on the hybrid work of art viewed as a form of experience. The issue taken into consideration is hybrid work of art viewed as a form of experience from the perspective of how Dewey wrote about art which can be perceived as a form of experience. How can we understand the notion of experience in relation to a work of art, and, more importantly, to a hybrid work of art? The analysis of the experience category is based on the philosophical texts written by Luigi Pareyson. The question explored is whether hybrid works of art portray the experience of contemporary reality. The poems of Paula Claire (ES-SENSE and Hymns to Isis) and the artistic book by Jim Butler (A.M.D.G) are taken into consideration.
Reincarnations of the Word: Media, Genres, Practices
Reincarnations of the Word: Media, Genres, Practices
(Reincarnations of the Word: Media, Genres, Practices)
- Author(s):Agnieszka Karpowicz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:151-165
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:media;speech genres;multimedia genres;practices;performance;text and hypertext
- Summary/Abstract:The text presents the project of study of the multimedia, contemporary verbal environment. It proposes the use of the category of speech genres (Bakhtin). Focusing on the secondary genres (genres of verbal creativity) it justifies the argument that “The word is not dead. It is merely changing its skin” (Dick Higgins), and therefore in the living verbal environment we deal with changing, heterogeneous media of verbal expression that determine, in part, the modes of functioning of particular genres and how they should be described. This paper presents performance, text and hypertext as basic means of functioning of the verbal forms in contemporary culture; means which demand adequate categories of description and research tools in order to avoid textualization of multimedia genres and not to treat them as literature.
Poetics in the Age of Convergence
Poetics in the Age of Convergence
(Poetics in the Age of Convergence)
- Author(s):Ewa Szczęsna
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:169-188
- No. of Pages:20
- Keywords:digital poetics;convergence;interactive figures;hypertext;link
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of the study is to present changes in the structure of text (its structure and ways of creation, figures in particular) in digital discourse. The identity of digital communication is supported by existing signs, texts, and discourses; and how it develops in the process of their adaptation and reinterpretation. The Internet seems to be a really good space in which different discourses become alike. This process results in the creation of new poetics of text and discourse. Digital media modifies rhetorical figures (especially the ontology and functions of those figures), it cancel figures existing in traditional texts (for example, inversion is invalidated because no determined way of reading the text exists), and it creates new ones. In digital discourse words and icons have a multifunctional nature (meaning-making, linking, acting, marking, and signalling the sender’s emotions). Traditional textual forms, which differ semiotically and medially, are combined and transformed, so that the boundaries between forms of expression are blurred.
Convergence and Communication: Genre Analysis of the websites of Polish Writers
Convergence and Communication: Genre Analysis of the websites of Polish Writers
(Convergence and Communication: Genre Analysis of the websites of Polish Writers)
- Author(s):Maciej Maryl
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:189-207
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:convergence and communication;writers’ websites genre analysis;new media;hybrid texts
- Summary/Abstract:This article categorizes new forms of expressions on writers’ websites as means of maintaining communication with readers. The first part is dedicated to inter- and trans-medial analysis of various multimedia materials published on such websites (e.g. biographical notes, photographs, trailers). In the second part the website is analyzed as a hybrid text in which various types of expression are submitted to the main communicative purpose. On both levels of analysis the material is categorized in terms of the communicative function, for, as the author claims, the genre analysis of electronic discourse requires an approach which takes into consideration not only authorial intent and textual features but also the context of online utterance and the role of other partners of communication.
Towards a Generic Analysis of the Microblog (Based on a Study of Twitter)
Towards a Generic Analysis of the Microblog (Based on a Study of Twitter)
(Towards a Generic Analysis of the Microblog (Based on a Study of Twitter))
- Author(s):Katarzyna Sitkowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:209-235
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:microblog;new genres;multimedia genealogy;theory of genres;Twitter
- Summary/Abstract:This article is an attempt to determine the place of microblogs, posted on Twitter, on the Internet or, more broadly in the multimedia genealogy. First, the service itself is presented and mechanisms of its functioning are described. Then its importance for society is mentioned. Furthermore, some crucial issues related to the theory of genres are presented and they constitute an essential introduction to the research methodology. The “guides” on the path of reflection and on the characteristics of microblogs are the “older siblings” of this form of expression: the Internet, journalistic and other genres, whose determinants have already been described. Such an order is matched against another one – the tradition of genres’ description in four aspects: structural, pragmatic, cognitive and stylistic.
How Does the Hybrid Work of Art Exist?
How Does the Hybrid Work of Art Exist?
(How Does the Hybrid Work of Art Exist?)
- Author(s):Irena Chawrilska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:237-254
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:hybrid work of art;theory of formativity;liberature;concrete poetry;artistic book;contemporary culture
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this article is to analyze the relation between hybrid works of art in the background of philosophical texts by Luigi Pareyson, Jurij Łotman, Wolfgang Welsch. The questions which are taken into consist of – What is the definition of a hybrid work of art? What is the impact of contemporary culture on the way of being a hybrid work of art? Do the hybrid works of art reflect the experience of contemporary reality? My considerations are based on concrete poetry, book works, book objects and liberature.
Liberature in Relation to the Reconfiguration of Aisthesis
Liberature in Relation to the Reconfiguration of Aisthesis
(Liberature in Relation to the Reconfiguration of Aisthesis)
- Author(s):Irena Górska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:255-270
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:liberature;aisthesis;aesthetic experience;polysensory perception
- Summary/Abstract:This article proposes to inspect the phenomenon of liberature from the perspective of the reconfiguration of aisthesis, as described by Wolfgang Welsch. In the German researcher’s approach, this consists in questioning the primacy of vision in favour of other senses, and is, first of all, an effect of the dominance of the media. However, in a broader approach towards the reasons of transformations, aisthesis must be looked for in phenomena that are summarised in the formula of “new aesthetics”, as proposed by Arnold Berleant. One of the significant features of this concept is the constant expansion of the area of art and the appearance of forms that stimulate the audience’s experience, requiring the activation of new sensory receptors. Without a doubt, liberature is one of those forms of art that requires interactivity and a special involvement. Being a unique example of the co-existence of various types of messages (verbal, iconic and material), liberature requires a polysensory perception. This, in turn, can be a source of aesthetic satisfaction, but also a reason for an impoverishment of the aesthetic experience spanning between aisthesis and anaisthesis.
Literature in/of the City – Introductory Comments
Literature in/of the City – Introductory Comments
(Literature in/of the City – Introductory Comments)
- Author(s):Magdalena Lachman
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:271-291
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:literature;space of the city;literature’s circulation;urban studies;new forms of expression
- Summary/Abstract:The article attempts to describe a variety of possible ways in which literature makes itself present within the space of the city. It assumes two basic perspectives to investigate the issue. First of all, the article analyses how the city and its multiple institutions support the literature’s circulation and availability for the readers. The city offers a number of venues for writers to present their works and promote them through precisely targeted events and literary festivals. The city is seen as a stage or background on which literary works and events can become fully available. Secondly, the article analyses how literary critics or more broadly philosophers and sociologists interested in urban studies use literature to understand and describe the city in its artistic and everyday dimensions. The fruitful collaboration between city as an active factor shaping artistic imagination and writers leads to developing new forms of expression as well as formulating new ideas about art. It also offers a possibility to communicate with readers in ways which are better accommodated to modern visual imagination and different forms of everyday activity.
Literary Studies, History and Popular Culture – the Spaces of Convergence. Introduction
Literary Studies, History and Popular Culture – the Spaces of Convergence. Introduction
(Literary Studies, History and Popular Culture – the Spaces of Convergence. Introduction)
- Author(s):Natalia Lemann
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:293-320
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:Literary studies;historio-graphia;popculture;(post)modern historical novels;alternate histories;historical fantasy;new forms of communication
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of the article is to juxtapose literary studies, literature and history as neighboring branches of humanistic knowledge. The author compares the methodologies of history and literary studies in the field of narrativity, and, in accordance with Hayden White, comprehends history as a type of fiction, historio-graphia, and literary artifact. In this optics historiography and literary studies are diagnosed as forming a sisterhood relationship. When the opportunity arises it is shown that the idea of postmodern history is no novelty, since up until the decline of the XVIIIth century history and literary studies have not been opposite at all. Actually, the way of thinking about history as an (literary) art has a splendid tradition rooted in antiquity. In the scope of Braudel`s history of the “longue durée” it is the model of history as a (hard) science separated from literary studies as an art and ideographical science that constitutes a methodological aberration. Comparative analysis leads to the conclusion, that both these “scientific” branches developed almost imultaneously (cf. feminism, gender, postcolonialism, posthumanism, animal studies). Moreover literary genres, such as the (post)modern historical novels, alternate histories or historical fantasy, opened the space of convergence between history and the literary, because of mutual fluctuation and the “parasiting” of ideas, topics and poetics. The participation of popular culture makes the history and literary studies more transgressive, widely open for contemporary forms of communication and more hearable. In this scope, the author presents historical game books, facebook`s historical events, transmedia historical stories.
Afterpop: the Almost Perfect Convergence
Afterpop: the Almost Perfect Convergence
(Afterpop: the Almost Perfect Convergence)
- Author(s):Katarzyna Gutkowska-Ociepa
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:321-337
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:afterpop;polysemic new literature;intermediatic texts;Eloy Fernández Porta
- Summary/Abstract:This paper focuses on one of the newest notions in Spanish literary theory created by Eloy Fernández Porta in his work Afterpop. La literatura de la implosion mediatica (2007). The theorist reaches for the aesthetical accomplishments of postmodernism, avant-pop and cyberpunk in order to analyze them in the context of the new artistic mentality from the beginnings of XXI century. Juggling a multitude of literary techniques and names from various cultural backgrounds such as W. S. Burroughs, Julián Ríos, David Foster Wallace, David Cronenberg or Michael Haneke, Fernández Porta searches for new criteria and new methods of recognizing the complexity and insights of intermediatic, multifaceted and polysemic, implosive “new literature”.
Transcultural Convergence? Polish Poets and Artists and the Oriental Verbo-visuality
Transcultural Convergence? Polish Poets and Artists and the Oriental Verbo-visuality
(Transcultural Convergence? Polish Poets and Artists and the Oriental Verbo-visuality)
- Author(s):Beata Śniecikowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:339-369
- No. of Pages:31
- Keywords:verbo-visuality;transculturality;convergence;haiku;haiga;haibun
- Summary/Abstract:The article concerns different aspects of convergence processes of the traditional Orientalgenres in the Polish culture, focusing on haiku, haiga and haibun. It examines artists’ books,visual arts and the artistic websites. The theoretical frame of the research is rooted in theconcept of transculturality introduced by Wolfgang Welsch.The author analyses Polish works of art employing different strategies of combiningwords and images, thereby showing unexpected similarities between cultures and revealingthe artistic changes caused by the choice of different media. The investigation provesthat the most interesting compositions uncover unexpected common elements betweenapparently contradictory traditions, the necessary condition is, however, at least the basic knowledge about the Other.
From an E-narrative Poem towards an Interactive Work of Art. Media Convergence Illustrated with DOWN by Zenon Fajfer and The Surprising Spiral by Ken Feingold
From an E-narrative Poem towards an Interactive Work of Art. Media Convergence Illustrated with DOWN by Zenon Fajfer and The Surprising Spiral by Ken Feingold
(From an E-narrative Poem towards an Interactive Work of Art. Media Convergence Illustrated with DOWN by Zenon Fajfer and The Surprising Spiral by Ken Feingold)
- Author(s):Bogusława Bodzioch-Bryła
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:371-400
- No. of Pages:30
- Keywords:liberature;Zenon Fajfer;Ken Feingold;borderland of media and literature;new media
- Summary/Abstract:The text, using the example of a work belonging to the literary style (Spoglądając przez ozonową dziurę [Detect Ozone Hole Nearby] by Zenon Fajfer) and the interactive art (the installation The Surprising Spiral by Ken Feingold) analyses the idiosyncracy of works positioning themselves at the borderland of media and literature, works both literary (textual, narrative and poetic) as well as media ones (changeable, iconic, set in a computer program, double-indirect), paying attention to the meaningfulness of the disciplines borderland (in this case literary and media studies). The author stresses the reasonableness of the question asked by Katarzyna Bazarnik, whether, by accident, the “Darwinian” evolution of species continues. In the author’s opinion, based on her observation of works belonging to the literary style and the discussed work The Surprising Spiral by Ken Feingold, this question should get a positive answer. And possibly, as an effect of initiation, which has already happened, we will soon be entering the museum-gallery space not only in order to look but also to read.