Electronic literature is literary fiction and poetry created for the computer and the network. Genres of electronic literature, while focused on poetics, have connections to other forms of digital culture such as network art and computer games. In this course, students will read works of electronic literature as for instance hypertext fiction, digital poetry, and interactive fiction. Students will also study theoretical and critical studies of electronic literature.

Creative practice is an important component of the course, and all students will participate in the production of collaborative work of electronic literature, either created from scratch as a website or similar, or modifying an existing work of electronic literature. The necessary technical skills will be taught as needed. Students will also receive practical training in analyzing electronic literature, in particular in analysis of how the elements that are common in electronic literature, such as images, motion, time and space and interactivity influence the text of experience and reader experience, and how this also problematizes our understanding of traditional narrative and poetry.

After successfully completing this course, students will have:

• an overview of the history and genres of electronic literature
• familiarity with key works of hypertext fiction, digital poetry, and interactive fiction.
• an understanding of how visual, kinetic, temporal and interactive features work in narrative and poetry in electronic literature, and how they complicate our understandings of the reader and of the literary in general
• an understanding of the basic principle within the programming

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

• apply theories about electronic literature in their own interpretations of specific works
• reflect upon their own creative practice and use feedback to improve their work
• write specifically for digital environments
• grasp elementary principles of programming

understand coding and design as elements of writing practice.

There are thirteen lectures and twelve sessions in the lab over thirteen weeks. In addition, each student will have one supervision meeting with the lecturer in connection with the semester thesis.

If less than five students are registered to a course, the department might reduce the teaching, please see the department¿s guidelines regarding this on Mitt UiB. Regarding a course where this is a possibility the students will be informed at the beginning of the semester, and before the deadline regarding semester registration 1.February/1.September.

In order to take the exam it is required that the student has participated in at least 75 percent of the teaching and classroom activities. Course participation is approved by the course leader.

As part of the participation and classroom activities, there will be a number of short creative projects in the course, and some brief blog post-style critical writing assignments, as specified in the syllabus. These are intended to expand the student¿s knowledge of electronic literature through hands-on creative and critical practice and to prepare them for the final project or paper.

Department og Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies.

E-mail: Advice@lle.uib.no