Electronic Literature

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Electronic literature is literature that was created exclusively for or on digital devices. I think that this is amazing because it can bring to life many poems, short stories, and historical events. Before this class I just thought that E- literature was online ebooks, or articles. After being in Digital Humanities for only a week, I have learned that that’s not the case at all after being exposed to works such as “Mr. Pimpton’s Revenge”, and “88 Constellations”. I think that “Mr. Pimpton’s Revenge” was one of the coolest pieces of E-lit that I have seen because as the story was being told, you were being taken on a trip with the story! The Author utilized google maps and connected a specific destination with each place in the story, everytime you clicked on a destination a snippet of the story was uncovered. E- Literature lets the reader interact with the piece, it cannot be printed out like a book because it will lose its razzle-dazzle effect to grab the viewer's attention. “88 Constellations,” is also a very interesting piece of e-literature especially if you like astronomy, astrological signs, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. “88 Constellations” is a piece that presents itself as the night sky full of stars. However, when you run your cursor over the stars, patterns of constellations reveal themselves. The shape of the constellation is shown as well as the name. When you click on one, there is a informational video connected with each one educating you the Philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein. It is a very informative piece that I found extremely interesting. Electronic Literature is such an amazing use of technology but people often do not know what it actually is. Hopefully, in the near future people will understand the true definition of Electronic Literature.

- Libby Korber