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1. 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

2. 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

3. 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