College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Graduation Date

8-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Department/Program Conferring Degree

English

Keywords

remediation, electronic literature, new media studies, Mark Z. Danielewski, interactive fiction

Abstract

The advent of the internet and continued proliferation of new media consumption within households has significantly increased the popularity of new media objects and electronic literature. This paper considers the advantages/disadvantages posed by an increasingly interactive reading expereince and analyzes the effects this influence has on traditional print culture. Through an anaylsis of Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves in relation to several popular new media objects (TOC, New Word Order, Reconstructing Mayakovsky) a more complete understanding of the impending challenges facing both mediums is gained. Acquiring a more complete understanding of the way in which one tradition influences the other allows for new insight into the way we understand such literary concepts as narrative, plot, and the act of reading; both at the present moment and in the future. I argue that through the process of remediation (intermediation) new media objects can achieve the cultural relevance of their print counterparts while opening the door for increased collaboration among academics and scholars within the humanities.

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