In my previous blog entry, I explored the issue of how to examine the Wiki novel in light of our frequent class discussions on what constitutes literature, what is reading, and what is an author. While I still don't have concrete conclusions on what the Wiki novel says about authorship, literature, and reading, I was still intrigued with the notion of online novels. With these questions still fresh in my mind, I examined another site for online literature, Hypertextopia.
Hypertextopia did a lot the work for me, devoting a whole page to defining literature. In Hypertextopia's view, defining literature is generally avoided because it leads to "false dichotomies" that separate any written word into literature and "not literature." Nevertheless, Hypertextopia attempts to define what they deem is worthy to be considered literature. They write,
If we accept the premise that literature is the highest expression of written language, then literature is characterized by a high density of meaning. Just as density is the amount of substance packed into a given space, the degree to which a work is literary is proportional to the amount of meaning packed into the words.
I find this definition to be intriguing, to say the least, especially in light of our class discussions on the significance of authorial intent when determining meaning. I'm sure that Wimsatt and Beardsley would argue that the meaning "packed into the words" is meaningless, and it's only significant what meaning is extracted from the words.
Ultimately, Hypertextopia defines literature as the body of work which is packed full of meaning. While I belive this definition certainly has some flaws, it's an intriguing way to begin examining what literature is, and more interestingly, what literature is in light of technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment