The works this week are all quite interesting, one in particular stands out to me. Jason Nelson’s “This is How You Will Die” is an intriguing piece to analyze. While I am not certain that this work is strictly speaking a purely E-Lit piece, as it is mostly text-based with the software and online utilities mainly being utilized as a function to randomly generate passages for the reader (this could be achieved in a paper form simply by flipping randomly through pages), it is still an interesting piece. The part that stands out to me the most with this piece is the uncomfortable nature of it; the passages generated for the reader are often gruesome, if not simply murderous and melancholy, which forces the reader/participant to decide how long they are willing to interact with this type of literature. In this sense, the fact that this is an online work makes it unique; if one were to read these in a paper or printed medium, they would still be in one’s possession after one stops reading it. However, once the viewer closes the internet window, it is effectively out of your life. This makes it potentially possible to push the limitations of discomfort for one’s audience, as they are free to completely remove themselves from the work at any moment. With a paper medium, they would still have to interact with the work, simply by having to return or dispose of the work itself. This has a large amount of potential for further exploration.
Student, Chef, & Amateur Cultist