Hi Scott!

You mean there is, in addition to innovation, a recovery of what got
lost along the way in the process of "literaturing"? I find the idea
worth quite a few interesting dissertations.

As for the nostalgia which the comparison of writers with spiritual
scribes suggests, well, does it not dubiously spiritualize the
machine? What I would call the will to visualize (rampant in a
media-saturated world) atrophies the spiritual faculty of active
de-visualization, which perhaps underlies the flights of the
imaginative sublime. I think (maybe absolutely wrong-headedly) that
the literary and the spititual lie edge to edge with each other.
Perhaps meditation and the meditative experience of literature help
open up another dimension of experience by means of de-visualization.
Maybe, this is how they set us free.

Literature as a term with certain received connotations may need, I
agree, to be rethought. But in the context of freedom from the
prevailing imaginaries (which include -in my opinion- discourses), can
the new media be a substitute for literature, including the (oral)
literature of audition?

Cheers,
Rajesh


On 7/3/05, WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE automatic digest system
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> There are 2 messages totalling 133 lines in this issue.
> 
> Topics of the day:
> 
>   1. WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE Digest - 30 Jun 2005 to 1 Jul 2005 (#2005-71)
>      (2)
> 
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> Date:    Sat, 2 Jul 2005 19:39:13 +0530
> From:    rajesh sharma <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE Digest - 30 Jun 2005 to 1 Jul 2005 (#2005-71)
> 
> Dear List Members,
> 
> Digital literature being literature, how can we=20
> (1) distinguish it from the pre-digital?
> (2) understand the way it modifies the literary imaginary as it
> existed before the digital? (Specifically, does it mean a radical
> reconceptualization of literature?)
> 
> Can anyone help me understand the issues not really techinically but
> philosophically/phenomenologically?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Rajesh
> 
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Date:    Sat, 2 Jul 2005 15:12:49 -0700
> From:    beowolf2 <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE Digest - 30 Jun 2005 to 1 Jul 2005 (#2005-71)
> 
> Rajesh: here is my take on the issue. It is an obvious one I'm afraid. I'm
> used to finding my foot in my mouth. Cheers, scott malby
> 
> From the 14 th. to the twentieth century , western literature was defined as
> written material that was culturally deemed worth saving. The material was
> copied or reproduced on various forms of thin material and stitched into
> bound volumes. Inks were used. It is interesting that this written material
> early in its development reflected oral story telling traditions. It had a
> linear aspect and narrative in the sense of your having to turn pages and
> follow through time events or situations. I started with the 14th. century
> because that is when the word *literature* began to come into use from a
> western European perspective but the written word developed from pictograms,
> evolved into hieroglyphics and morphed into complex written languages in
> Egypt, China, and the city states of the Tigris and Euphrates around 6,000
> B.P.
> 
> Hey, so far so good. A great deal of archaeological and cultural evidence
> leads up us to this point. Digital literature is electronically produced
> media. It requires no ink. As is true with any invention, digital literature
> first copied the old print technology and augmented its production. Print on
> demand books are an example. However, we are now beginning to see the medium
> come into its own. Previously, such a development would have taken 40 to a
> hundred years to accomplish. Time scales have changed and speeded up to
> exponential levels. This is not only a new world but a strange new world as
> well. As it is electronically produced, digital media can do things the
> older print technology was unable to. We can follow threads, go off on
> tangents, hyperlink to sources, etc.
> 
> We don't know what a mature digital literature will look like or take us
> because we simply are no longer able to predict the future beyond a 10 year
> developmental span as everything is changing so fast. Beyond 10 years we
> don't even know if the personal computer will be relevant as we use it
> today. What we can say is that the way we read will and is already changing.
> Many ezines today are certainly as good and maybe better than their print
> counterparts. Libraries are now in the process of becoming electronic
> repositories. What is going on is a world cultural transformation. Digital
> media combines words, sound and images in new and interesting ways.
> *Literature* may be too limiting a word for what is happening. Story telling
> is now able to combine elements to the story telling tradition that were
> lost with the advent of the written word. Digital writers are more like the
> old tradition of spiritual scribes as they are now able to incorporate the
> lost elements of the spoken word as in Irish and Homeric traditions. The
> concept of their work as *Literature* in the aspect of something that is
> worth culturally saving is another question but certainly true in the
> future. Writing well is an elitist activity. No problem with that as it has
> always been the case. The one-to-one reach of digital literature means a
> proliferation of forms designed for a specific audience that could not be
> satisfied in the past because of scales of economy. It was too expensive.
> Now, everyone can have their own site in cyberspace. We are now experiencing
> this. It means more choices and definitions of value rather than less. A
> radical reconceptualization of literature as printed artifact is already
> upon us. This does not mean that books will not be written and enjoyed.
> Increasingly, the internet will be the focus for research, communication,
> publication and the development of new approaches to the concept of
> *literature*.
> 
> ----- 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE Digest - 1 Jul 2005 to 2 Jul 2005 (#2005-72)
> ********************************************************************************
>

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