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1. The Paratexts of Inanimate Alice: Thresholds, Genre Expectations and Status

   In her book Writing Machines, N. Katherine Hayles described the concept of thetechnotext. Hayles used this concept to provide an analysis of a range of texts, including online work, based on their materiality. The analysis described in this article complements this method by developing an approach that explores the conditions of production of contemporary digital literature. It achieves this aim by providing a close reading of the online paratextual elements associated with the first four episodes ofInanimate Alice by Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph. In doing so, it modifies the print-based analytical framework provide by Gérard Genette and others to develop a detailed account of the off-site, on-site and in-file paratexts of this online work. It sets out a range of thresholds that mould the reception of this text. It also notes how they position it within wider discourses about genre, media, literature and literacy. This article concludes by exploring the limits of this paratextual reading. It discusses whether it provides an adequate account of the material conditions of these texts.

   Jill Walker Rettberg - 02.06.2012 - 14:25

2. The Web is Paratextual: An Exploration of the Web's Architecture from a Paratextual Perspective

   Contrary to what one might assume when comparing the materiality of the book-as-object to the Web, this paper proofs what the title promises and projects Gérard Genette's '87 book-based paratext theory onto the Web. Elements of the Web’s architecture selected for this paratextual study include textual units that are exposed in browser windows, thereby taking into consideration Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the structure of website-addresses and links.The presentation concludes with examples from electronic literature, that is literature in programmable media, an artistic practice employing language-driven, linguistic, and literary features in multi-medial, digital environments carried out by an artist, programmer, designer, or computer program.

   Patricia Tomaszek - 07.12.2012 - 11:46

3. Reading at the Thresholds to Electronic Literature: A Paratextual Study

   This study relates to Gérard Genette’s book-based theory on paratexts published with Seuils in ’87 and proposes to adapt it to literature in programmable media. Electronic literature often is experienced and in theory discussed as “works without end”. An article by Yellowlees Douglas, author of The End of Books – or. Books without End (2001) investigates the reading experience of interactive narratives and tellingly asks: “How Do I Stop This Thing?” (1994). Similar to the nature of endings, fixed beginnings in turn often are not a given in electronic literature: Some works randomly generate beginnings according to programmed algorithms such as in ingen elge på vejen den dag http://www.loveis-in-the-air.dk/digidrama/ (Sonja Thomsen) in which the works development is dependent on the weekday it is accessed at. Other works such as hypertexts offer readers a choice of links to choose from to begin a reading (e.g. Twelve Blue

   Patricia Tomaszek - 27.06.2013 - 09:53

4. Towards the Recognition of the Shell as an Integral Part of the Digital Text

   Although the theory of hypertext fiction does not regard the Shell as a text, writers of digital fiction, have long started to blurr the boundaries between the Reader and the “main” text. Both interpreters of (fictional) hypertexts and pt-ogrammers of hypertext-environments need to acknowledge this fact in order to accomodate current wrltlng practices.

   Jill Walker Rettberg - 28.06.2013 - 14:44

5. Reading at the Thresholds of Book Covers and Opening Screens

   In this article I relate Gérard Genette’s paratext theory Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1997) that was originally published in French as Seuils in 1987 to theories that relate to what presumably constitutes narrative beginnings (Kellman; Richardson; Rabinowitz). Genette’s theory considers different liminal devices as that which “guide a reader’s reading” such as for example a book cover. Among other’s, I explore reader comments that reflect on their reading experience of book covers expressed in social media environments such as goodreads.com and the blogosphere. I propose that the book cover potentially foreshadows it’s content proleptically (Genette) and in a centripetal (McCracken) notion draws to a book’s content. Two examplary “openings” as thresholds to a narrative are considered: the book cover of the paper-based publication Borgerligt tusmørke by Simon Fruelund and Voyage into the Unkown (Roderick Coover), a work of literature published in programmable media.

   Patricia Tomaszek - 02.07.2013 - 11:09

6. Locating Literary Heritage in Paratexts: An Analysis of Peritexts in Electronic Literature

   Twenty-six years after its original publication in French, I examine and propose to revisit a traditional literary theory bound to the book-as-object for the realm of literature in programmable media: paratext theory as envisioned by French narratologist Gérard Genette (translated into English by Jane E. Levin, 1997). To Genette, paratext is that which accompanies a text. He differentiates and distinguishes paratexts according to location of appearance and the sender of paratextual information. Two concepts are relavant: peri- and epitext. Genette speaks and identifies peritexts as those elements of the book dictated by a publisher devoted to the cover, typesetting, format etc. and epitexts which exist outside a book in the form of notes and interviews. Both elements merge into what Genette calls paratext theory, all of which carry out a functionality. Among others, Genette envisions paratexts to fulfill a “literary function“ which serve for guiding a readers reading; a claim under critical exploration in this presentation. Investigating the theme of this conference, I question how paratext theory may help to locate the literary in electronic literature.

   Patricia Tomaszek - 30.09.2013 - 14:39

7. Approche du rôle de la mémoire dans la conception et la réception de quelques oeuvres en littérature numérique

   L'article analyse dans un premier temps l'impact sémiotique du souvenir et de l'oubli dans l'opération de lecture d'un hypermédia narratif. Il le fait en analysant des réactions de lecture. On constate que deux mécanismes contraires entrent en jeu : l'implication de la lecture comme signe au sein de l'œuvre, opération qui mobilise la mémoire, et un déploiement hypertextuel de l'information qui, lui, favorise l'oubli. Ces exemples montrent également l'importance du cognitif et du perceptif dans le phénomène d'interprétation. L'article propose alors un modèle sémiotiquo-cognitif de texte, dit « du texte lié » dans lequel ce qui est considéré comme texte est assujetti aux archétypes mis en œuvre par le sujet pour appréhender le dispositif de l'œuvre, y compris dans ces dimensions technologiques et communicationnelles.

   Patricia Tomaszek - 28.10.2013 - 16:56

8. Thinking Paratextually: Making Meaning from Paradigm Shifts in the Age of Digital Culture

   Based on the dual perspective of looking back and moving forward, this talk will explore the
   underlying tensions in recent work on paratextual theory and on elements that may – or not – fall
   under an evolving definition of what constitutes digital paratext.
   

   Alvaro Seica - 29.08.2014 - 10:04

9. Mashup as paratextual practice: beyond digital objects (in the age of networked media)

   I would like to present a concept which I fully developed in my contribution to the book edited by Nadine Desrochers and Daniel Apollon, Examining Paratextual Theory and its Applications in Digital Culture. In the text I propose a major reconfiguration of the main tenets of Genette’s paratextual theory in order to fully grasp the specific nature of today’s media environm
   ent, where modes of circulation often seem more important than the digital content itself. I argue
   

   Alvaro Seica - 29.08.2014 - 11:26