With the onset of the technological age, certain new technologies are beginning to replace everyday items, which may have been part of everyday life in the past. Most of these new technologies are viewed as positive additions to households and businesses, designed to make life more efficient and easy for the average person. This arrival of new ideas and inventions includes the introduction of electronic texts into society, a concept that many are still trying to understand. Many believe that electronic texts can never be as legitimate as classical literature. Upon first inspection of an electronic text called Storyland, one may wonder if this unconventional bundle of text can be considered legitimate. After reading through Storyland, I believe that simply the content alone of electronic texts allow them to be viewed as serious pieces of literature displayed on a different medium.
Storyland is a text written by Nanette Wylde. It displays short fragmented stories, broken up by sentences appearing one by one. Before any of the text appears, an animated heading can be observed. Flashing colorful letters flicker in and out and finally become stationary as a circus or carnival calliope audio plays in the background. Once the story has completely appeared, and the reader has had a chance to read it, a simple click on the “new story” button in the bottom right corner causes the calliope music to start once again and a new and completely different story to appear. Undoubtedly it can be seen through this description that reading through this series of stories is not what most people consider the traditional way of reading. With the flashing letters and sequential appearance of text, reading through this electronic text becomes an experience in itself.
Although it becomes apparent that reading Storyland is much different than reading any traditional printed novel, neither of these pieces should be discounted as being legitimate. Just as the printed book was the new and outlandish technology back in the days of the first printing press, electronic texts like Storyland are taking on the role of being the new and improved piece of literature that may seem very strange upon its first arrival. In her book Writing Machines, Katherine Hayles talks about the present day boundaries between printed books and electronic texts, undoubtedly the same boundaries that were crossed when the first printed book made its debut. She says as a supporter of the transition to electronic text that, “electronic textuality was here to stay as more print books were reconstructed for the Web, from medieval manuscripts, to illustrated works like William Blake’s books, to multimedia sites devoted to such master texts as Joyce’s Ulysses” (Hayles, pg. 45). It can clearly be seen in many ways that these electronic texts are simply an extension of literary work onto a different and more accessible medium. Nanette Wylde should be considered just as much of an author as another other classical writer. Where such literature is accessed should not determine its legitimacy. It is for this reason that such pieces like Storyland have every right to be considered legitimate literary works.
Although it seems clear that just as much literary effort is put into electronic texts as traditional texts, there are still many who question the legitimacy of these new texts that can only be viewed on some type of screen. Sven Birkerts for example, in his book The Gutenberg Elegies, explains that books are an integral part of his life, defining who he is. It seems as though the newness of these electronic texts almost threatens his existence. He says, “to embrace the microchip and all its magic would be to close myself off from a great many habits and attitudes, ones that define me to myself; I would have to reposition myself on the space-time axis. I would have to say goodbye to a certain way of looking at the world […]” (Birkerts, pg. 213). This argument is clearly flawed in the way in which it is presented. By explaining that coming to accept the new electronic era would involve readjusting in response to technology, he states himself, in the autobiographical section of his book, that back in his childhood novels were a discovery experience. He says that as a child he encountered, “the startling and renewable discovery that a page covered with black markings could, with a slight mental exertion, be converted into an environment, an inward depth populated with characters and animated by diverse excitements” (Birkerts, pg. 35). This statement about discovering literature as a child gives evidence of Birkerts’ ability to reposition himself from the old way of hearing stories as a child to being able to read them. In a way he has already been able to make a transition as a child to printed works, just as the boundaries of printed works were crossed with the invention of the printing press. It is in this way that he is contradicting himself when saying that crossing such boundaries to convert to electronic text is impossible. The newness of literature to him as a child can be directly compared to the newness of electronic text to him as an adult. It can be seen here that Birkerts’ argument to attempt to delegitimize electronic text is flawed.
Clearly, there is much debate over whether or not certain electronic texts are comparable to traditional literature. It becomes clear that there is no reason to delegitimize electronic text simply because they are presented on a new and different medium. The same amount of formulation and planning goes into writing such hypertexts as any traditional classic novel. It seems that those who are opposed to the switch over to electronic text are simply wary of the inevitable onset of technology, possibly changing the world as they once knew it. The inability of any opposition, like Sven Birkerts, to cross the boundary into the new technological age, as Katherine Hayles puts it, should not be a reason to diminish valid pieces of literature.
Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies. New York: Faber & Faber, 2006. Print.
Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing machines. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2002. Print.
