The Internet Unconscious: On the Subject of Electronic Literature (International Texts in Critical Media Aesthetics)

"The Internet Unconscious is a book on the poetics of net writing, or more precisely on the subject of writing the net. By 'writing the net', Sandy Baldwin proposes three ways of analysis: 1) an understanding of the net as a loosely linked collocation of inscriptions, of writing practices and materials ranging from fundamental TCP/IP protocols to Facebook; 2) a discursive field that codifies and organizes these practices and materials into text (and into textual practices of reading, archiving, etc.), and into an aesthetic institution of 'electronic literature'; and 3) a project engaged by a subject, a commitment of the writer' body to the work of the net. It theorizes the practices and materials of net writing as extended surfaces of bodily excitation. Bodily absence leads to delirious, frantic, ecstatic writing towards the other beyond the net. By contrast, Sandy Baldwin's book describes the poetics of the net's "becoming-literary," by employing concepts that are both technically-specific and poetically-charged, providing a coherent and persuasive theory. The incorporation and projection of sites and technical protocols produces an uncanny displacement of the writer's body onto diverse part objects, and in turn to an intense and real inhabitation of the net through writing. The fundamental poetic situation of net writing is the phenomenology of "as-if." Net writing involves construal of the world through the imaginary"-- "There is electronic literature that consists of works, and the authors and communities and practices around such works. This is not a book about that electronic literature. It is not a book that charts histories or genres of this emerging field, not a book setting out methods of reading and understanding. The Internet Unconscious is a book on the poetics of net writing, or more precisely on the subject of writing the net. By 'writing the net', Sandy Baldwin proposes three ways of analysis: 1) an understanding of the net as a loosely linked collocation of inscriptions, of writing practices and materials ranging from fundamental TCP/IP protocols to CAPTCHA and Facebook; 2) as a discursive field that codifies and organizes these practices and materials into text (and into textual practices of reading, archiving, etc.), and into an aesthetic institution of 'electronic literature'; and 3) as a project engaged by a subject, a commitment of the writers' body to the work of the net. The Internet Unconscious describes the poetics of the net's "becoming-literary," by employing concepts that are both technically-specific and poetically-charged, providing a coherent and persuasive theory. The incorporation and projection of sites and technical protocols produces an uncanny displacement of the writer's body onto diverse part objects, and in turn to an intense and real inhabitation of the net through writing. The fundamental poetic situation of net writing is the phenomenology of "as-if." Net writing involves construal of the world through the imaginary."-- Winner of the N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism of Electronic Literature from the Electronic Literature Organization There is electronic literature that consists of works, and the authors and communities and practices around such works. This is not a book about that electronic literature. It is not a book that charts histories or genres of this emerging field, not a book setting out methods of reading and understanding. The Internet Unconscious is a book on the poetics of net writing, or more precisely on the subject of writing the net. By 'writing the net', Sandy Baldwin proposes three ways of analysis: 1) an understanding of the net as a loosely linked collocation of inscriptions, of writing practices and materials ranging from fundamental TCP/IP protocols to CAPTCHA and Facebook; 2) as a discursive field that codifies and organizes these practices and materials into text (and into textual practices of reading, archiving, etc.), and into an aesthetic institution of 'electronic literature'; and 3) as a project engaged by a subject, a commitment of the writers' body to the work of the net. The Internet Unconscious describes the poetics of the net's "becoming-literary," by employing concepts that are both technically-specific and poetically-charged, providing a coherent and persuasive theory. The incorporation and projection of sites and technical protocols produces an uncanny displacement of the writer's body onto diverse part objects, and in turn to an intense and real inhabitation of the net through writing. The fundamental poetic situation of net writing is the phenomenology of "as-if." Net writing involves construal of the world through the imaginary. "There is electronic literature that consists of works, and the authors and communities and practices around such works. This is not a book about that electronic literature. It is not a book that charts histories or genres of this emerging field, not a book setting out methods of reading and understanding. The Internet Unconscious is a book on the poetics of net writing, or more precisely on the subject of writing the net. By 'writing the net', Sandy Baldwin proposes three ways of analysis: 1) an understanding of the net as a loosely linked collocation of inscriptions, of writing practices and materials ranging from fundamental TCP/IP protocols to CAPTCHA and Facebook; 2) as a discursive field that codifies and organizes these practices and materials into text (and into textual practices of reading, archiving, etc.), and into an aesthetic institution of 'electronic literature'; and 3) as a project engaged by a subject, a commitment of the writers' body to the work of the net. The Internet Unconscious describes the poetics of the net's "becoming-literary," by employing concepts that are both technically-specific and poetically-charged, providing a coherent and persuasive theory. The incorporation and projection of sites and technical protocols produces an uncanny displacement of the writer's body onto diverse part objects, and in turn to an intense and real inhabitation of the net through writing. The fundamental poetic situation of net writing is the phenomenology of "as-if." Net writing involves construal of the world through the imaginary"-- Provided by publisher Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contnets......Page 7 Foreword......Page 10 Introduction......Page 15 As if I wrote the Internet......Page 19 The great beyond......Page 21 Weapon body......Page 25 Crust......Page 30 For example......Page 35 oooo ooooooooo......Page 40 OMG LOL......Page 43 Leet or 1337......Page 44 Survivable communication......Page 49 Ping poetics......Page 51 Traceroute......Page 53 Urgent interruption......Page 56 Somatolysis......Page 60 Lovers of literature......Page 65 Handshakes......Page 68 Binding the subject......Page 70 Chmod -777......Page 74 Read/Write/Execute......Page 77 Consumed by the net......Page 83 The crowd of electronic writers......Page 89 Debts and obligations......Page 94 Axiomatics......Page 96 The literary community......Page 99 I read my spam......Page 103 PLEASE REPLY MY BELOVED......Page 106 Can spam......Page 108 The end of spam......Page 111 End-to-end......Page 114 Logging in and getting off......Page 121 CAPTCHA......Page 123 Taking the test......Page 133 The difference thought makes......Page 136 Plaintext......Page 143 March 11, 1968......Page 146 Character and glyph......Page 150 Extreme rendition......Page 152 Plaintext performance......Page 155 Friend request......Page 166 Bodies never touch......Page 169 Pervy intimate avatars......Page 171 Passion of the avatar, avatar of passion......Page 178 Notes......Page 181 Bibliography......Page 190 Index......Page 199