ادبیات الکترونیک و داستان های وب محور چند وجهی

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی پژوهشی

نویسندگان

1 گروه زبان و ادبیات انگلیسی، واحد تهران مرکزی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، تهران، ایران

2 استادیار دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد قم

3 گروه زبان انگلیسی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، واحد تهران مرکز

چکیده

پیدایش ادبیات الکترونیک به طور چشمگیری با تکامل رسانه های دیجیتال پیوند خورده است، به نحوی که "ذاتا دیجیتال" نامیده می شوند. در واقع، ادبیات الکترونیک، شامل آثاری است که با بهره گیری از رایانه خلق شده اند و تنها از طریق رایانه قابل خواندن هستند. داستان های وب محور چند وجهی ، شناخته شده به عنوان نسل دوم ادبیات الکترونیک، از وجه های گوناگونی نظیر تصویر، صدا، موسیقی، فیلم، و متن استفاده می کنند. به بیان دیگر، این آثار ما را با جریانی از وجه ها/رسانه های گوناگون روبه رو می کنند در حالی که هیچ سرنخی مسیر حرکت را به ما نشان نمی دهد. اگرچه خوانش داستان های دیجیتال به نظر مشکل است اما با پیروی از نظریه های کاترین هیلز در رابطه با آپوفنیا (الگویابی داده های تصادفی) و نظریه های پاتریک کالم هوگان در خصوص غایت های روایی و عواطف، الگوهای روایی پنهان را در دو رمان وب محور چند وجهی پوستین های ناهمگون: یک رمان (٢٠١٢) اثر سلک و درحرکت (٢٠١٤) اثر اسمیت می توان مشاهده کرد. طبق نظر هوگان، زندگی انسان و روایت ها پیرامون چهار غایت اصلی نظیر کاما، آرتا، دارما، و موکشا شکل می گیرند. پیروی از این غایت ها سبب برانگیخته شدن عواطفی خاص می شود. در نتیجه، در پوستین های ناهمگون، روایت ها بر اساس کاما و موکشا و در رمان درحرکت، روایت ها بر اساس آرتا پیش می روند. بنابراین، جست و جوی غایت های ذکر شده در این دو اثر سبب کشف الگویی روایی می شود که تصادفی بودن وجود وجه های گوناگون را به چالش می کشد.

کلیدواژه‌ها


عنوان مقاله [English]

Electronic Literature and Multimodal Web-Fictions

نویسندگان [English]

  • Hanieh Zaltash 1
  • Farid Parvaneh 2
  • Narges Montakhabi Bakhtvar 3
1 Department of English Language and Literature, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University
2 Assistant Professor Azad University of Qom
3 Department of English,, Islamic Azad University,, Central Tehran Branch
چکیده [English]

Introduction
The inauguration of electronic literature is highly entwined with the evolution of digital media, in a sense that it is called “digital born,” which refers to the works of art that are created on a computer and meant to be read on a computer. Multimodal web-fictions, also known as the second generation of electronic literature, utilize several modes, including image, sound/music, video, and text. Multimodal web-fictions provide us with the flow of various modes on the screen. Moreover, there is no clue that indicate how we could navigate the digital project. Although reading digital fictions seems problematic, we could unearth instances of particular patterns among various modes/media which are randomly scattered in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012) and Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), through following Kathrine Hayles’ and Patrik Colm Hogan’ theories.
Background of Study
In Electronic Literature (2019), Scott Rettberg provides a thorough introduction to contemporary genres of digital writing. The book is divided into seven chapters which focus on various genres of electronic literature. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature (2018), edited by Joseph Tabbi, could be considered as the first authoritative reference handbook to the field of Electronic Literature. It consists of four parts This book collects various scholars’ theories, concerning the significant concepts within electronic literature. Daniel Punday, in “Narrativity,” investigates narrativity within electronic literature. He commences by elucidating the evolution of narrativity and how electronic works can create and use narrativity. In “Rebooting Cognition in Electronic Literature,” David Ciccoricco highlights the significance of cognition in electronic literature. Refiguring Minds in Narrative Media (2005) by David Ciccoricco pivots on cognitive issues, including memory, perception, attention, and emotion. He explores aesthetic treatments of cognition in three kinds of narrative media: print novels, digital fiction, and story-driven video games.
Methodology
This research, on the one hand, aims to divulge the patterns that are hidden in random modes/ media of Queerskins (2012) and Motions (2014) through following Katherine Hayles theories, concerning apophenia. On the other hand, the present study utilizes Patrick Colm Hogan’s theories, regarding emotions and narrative goals, in order to delineate the narrative patterns in the aforementioned works. Redefining narrative as the pursuit of a goal, Hogan, according to Sanskrit theories, claims that every story is formed around at least one of the chief goals because these are the goals around which all human life is ordered. The Indic tradition depicts that the goals of life, also known as the purusārthas, are kāma, artha, moksa, and dharma. These goals trigger particular emotions. Therefore, in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012), Sebastian’s romantic relationships and his self-blame emotions are respectively based on Kama and Moksa, and in Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), characters’ quest to again social prosperity reveals that their lives are based on artha.
Conclusion
Following Katherine Hayles’ theories, concerning apophenia, it could be argued that narrative patterns could be traced in electronic literature. In other words, various modes/media, which randomly emerge in Illya Szilak’s Queerskins (2012) and Hazel Smith’s Motions (2014), could portray narrative patterns. Although the novels seem fragmented, reading them through Patrick Colm Hogan’s theories, regarding emotions and narrative goals indicates that the underlying pattern is a picture of working memory process when emotions are triggered by life or narrative goals. In Queerskins (2012), narratives are based on Kama and Moksa, and in Motions (2014), narratives are centered on artha. Therefore, the pursuit of the aforementioned goals in Queerskins and Motions creates narrative patterns which challenge randomness of the various modes.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Apophenia
  • Narrative Patterns
  • Random Data
  • Multimodal web-fictions
  • Electronic Literature
  • Emotions
  • Narrative Goals
Bell, Alice, et al, eds. Analyzing Digital Fictions. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Brody, Leslie. Gender, Emotion, and the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1999.
Carroll, Robert T. The Skeptic’s Dictionary.  <http://skepdic.com/>. 1994
Ciccoricco, David. “Rebooting Cognition in Electronic Literature.” The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature. Ed. Joseph Tabbi. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
---, Refiguring Minds in Narrative Media. Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 2015. 
Electronic Literature Collection Volume Three. Ed. Stephanie Boluk. et al. February 2016. February 2019. < http://collection.eliterature.org/3/>.
Gervais, Bertrand. “Is There a Text on This Screen? Reading in an Era of Hypertextuality.” A Companion to Digital Literary Studies. Ed. Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
Hayles, Kathrine N. “Apophenia.” Unbound: Speculations on the Future of the Book. 3-4 May, 2012. Cambridge, United States.
---, Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame, 2008.
Hogan, Patrick C. Affective Narratology: The Emotional Structure of Stories. Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press, 2011.
---, Literature and Emotion. London: Routledge, 2018.
---, The Mind and Its Stories: Narrative Universals and Human Emotion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Krasniqi, Shkurte. “Quality in Digital Fiction: The Readings of Five Works.” Hedmark University College. 2011.
Kronman, Linda. “Can Transmedia Storytelling Learn from Hypertext Fiction? Introducing Three Examples of 4th Generation Digital Fiction.” Paper presented at Internet Research 15: The 15th Annual Meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers. Daegu, Korea: AoIR. (2014): 22-24. April. 2019. <http://spir.aoir.org.>
Margolin, Uri. “Cognitive Science, the Thinking Mind, and Literary Narrative.” Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences. Ed. David Herman. California: CSLI, 2003.
Montakhabi Bakhtbar, Narges, and Jalal Sokhanvar. “The Impact of Myth of Scheherazade on the Postmodernist Novel of Chimera by John Barth: A de Manian Reading.” Critical Language and Literary Studies (CLLS). Vol. 1, No. 2. 2009. 85-109.
Parvaneh, Farid, and Hanieh Zaltash. “Reading the Selected Fictions of William Gibson in light of Joseph Campbell’s Theory: Cyberpunk and Postmodern Myths.” Critical Language and Literary Studies (CLLS). Vol. 16, No. 23. 2020. 93-117.
Punday, Daniel. “Narrativity.” The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature. Ed. Joseph Tabbi. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
Rettberg, Scott. Electronic Literature. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2019.
Scherer, Klaus and Phoebe Ellsworth. “Appraisal Theories.” The Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. 45–49.
Smith, Hazel. Motions. Electronic Literature Collection Volume Three. 2014. < http://will-luers.com/motions/>.
---, The Contemporary Literature-Music Relationship: Intermedia, Voice, Technology, Cross-Cultural Exchange. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Szilak, Illya. Queerskins. Electronic Literature Collection Volume Three. 2012. < http:// www.queerskins.com/#title>. 
Tabbi, Joseph. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Electronic Literature. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.