There are different forms of Digital Humanities one can look at. Electronic literature refers works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer. In these types of interactive fiction, the story has already been created and the reader must just click through to see the ending. Some types of electronic literature are, Mr. Plimpton’s Revenge, The Sweet Old Etcetera, and My Body a Wunderkammer.
Mr. Plimpton’s Revenge was created as a google map essay and is a funny and easy to follow piece. This piece of e-literature was written by Dinty Moore that has a visual of where each new location the story takes place. It makes it easier to visualize where you are rather than the regular literature pieces that is all text based. This one in particular is non interactive piece with a lot of quirky ideas involved. For example, Moore was on too many drugs to have a real conversation and he didn’t remember his encounter with Mr. Plimpton except when Moore made a fool of himself. What I think makes this piece stand out is the way the user has to interact with the piece and the visuals you get out of it.
The Sweet Old Etcetera is an interactive piece of e-poetry using the works of e.e Cummings. The Sweet Old Etcetera adds new layers and meaning to e.e. Cummings poetry through motions, graphics, and sound. “The Sweet Old Etcetera” is a personal response to the poet’s work, aiming to capture the poem’s playful spirit in an interactive, experiential, and highly visual way. As a reader exploring this e-literature piece the interactive text generates more feelings for the poetry as you watch the poetry fall off the tree like the actual leaves in the poem.
My Body a Wunderkammer is a piece of hypertext fiction written by Shelley Jackson, where the story progresses by clicking on certain part the author has written about. Within those pieces of text there are more links that you can click on to take you farther in exploring the stories. What's interesting about this piece is the ‘Wunderkammer’ translate to “cabinets of curiosities”, so continuing through the story you are able to get a greater sense of the story. The author of this piece intends to focus on the relationship between human identity and the body's constituent organs, fluids, connective tissues, and other parts.
All three of these electronic literature pieces can not explain e-literature on their own.. Mr. Plimpton's Revenge; a google map essay, The Sweet Old Etcetera; e-poetry, and My Body a Wunderkammer; a semi-autobiographical hypertext are all pieces of electronic literature. These pieces are all constructed differently using a wide range of technologies to tell their stories. The one thing they all have in common is that they are pieces of e-literature meant to be viewed using technology.
Chris Carder
Tyler Nigro
Kendal Mahony
Justin Zerbee
