LETTERATURA ELETTRONICA

in Italy electronic literature still seems to be little known and practiced, apart from a small
circle of academic scholars and authors who deal with the specifics of electronic literature.
Italy is not even mentioned in the sections dedicated to University courses, initiatives,
Festivals or online resources. The main causes for this lack of dissemination of Italian
digital works are inscrutable and may be traced back, on one hand, to certain general
aspects of electronic literature and, on the other hand, to certain characteristics of the
Italian economic-cultural system. Paola Carbone points out the limited knowledge of the
English language of the Italian audience in general and the lack of a “culture of electronic
literature”, due to the absence of proper approaches and training for the audience,
adequate distribution channels and the small number of artists and writers working in the
field. As Di Rosario said the first reason for the failure of electronic literature to
disseminate is to be found in the weight of the humanist tradition that still identifies
poetry with Dante and mostly associates electronic literature with Visual Art. It seems
evident that electronic literature is a cultural phenomenon of the modern digital age which
has not received much attention in Italy. Electronic literature is still unknown to a large
audience and the publishing houses. Instead, an identification between electronic
literature and eBooks has been largely broadcasted and discussed to the detriment of
digital-born works. Visitors’ feedback confirmed the lack of information: most people
admitted that they had never heard of electronic literature before and almost all
associated it with eBooks. Nevertheless, visitors seemed to be curious and eager to know
more about electronic literature, but only after hearing the explanation of the works and
the way they ‘work’. In a period of transition from printed media to digital multimedia
content, it is inappropriate to adapt the latter to the older methods of editing and
publishing or to copyright, when, instead, everything about electronic literature, be it the
technology or the paradigmatic shift in the role of the reader, suggests that the old ways of
editing and publishing should be adapted to the new media. Equally ineffective and
incoherent seems to be the use of canonical-literary concepts for the comparative study
between digitally-born literature and printed literature.
2. Gruppo Giada’s Projects
Gruppo Giada, an independent research group founded in 2014 for the analysis,
dissemination and discussion of electronic literature in Italy. This research team runs two
twin projects: an Anthology of the History of Electronic Literature (1945-2015) and an
online platform.
2.1 The Anthology of the History of Electronic Literature
The Anthology will be a collection of around 300 works of electronic literature created and
written between 1945 and 2015 and it will include data sheets about authors, literary
genre and current literary topoi. The historical Anthology should be the most effective tool
to reach a greater number of readers interested in the different branches of electronic
literature. The historical method allows, on one hand, an overview of the relations
between IT and literature through works of digital literature and experimental literature of
the print literature tradition or digital literature and digital art. On the other hand, the
historic overview provides the basis for an interdisciplinary discourse amongst scholars of
IT, literature and art, but also amongst publishers, Jurists and librarians for topics regarding
copyright or archiving. The Anthology is conceived as a reference book for the study of
works of electronic literature. For the realization of the eBook specific software developed
by an Italian software house PubCoder will be used and it will be published by the Italian
publishing house Quintadicopertina. Finally, the Anthology will analyse and quote works
which were created under a creative commons license. The study of the history of
electronic literature brings into view the tight relationship between IT and literature. This
fact, as obvious as it may seem, should make the reader aware that, on one side, electronic
literature is created by communication tools known and used on a daily basis by a wide
range of people and therefore it is meant to bring works of electronic literature into the
technological reality of the reader. On the other side, the reader should be sensitised to
the fact that the aesthetics of some works is bound to the limitations of digital devices and
software tools used for their creation. One of the basic and implied ideas of the Anthology
is that electronic literature is not absolutely different from print nor a revolutionary
innovation which uproots the traditional paradigms of literature, but rather a continuation
of experimental literary practices. As a matter of fact, many attempts and forms of
experimental literature which could not be, or at least not fully be, accomplished in print
literature, find their implementation in the electronic context. The second section goes
from 1985 to 1995, the so-called ‘classical age’of electronic literature dedicated to
hypertext novels. The third period sees the rise of the web. The fourth and last section
coincides with the rise of social networks and the so-called ‘Web 2.0’, which differs from
the Web 1.0 for modes of sharing, discussion and distribution. The Anthology will contain
essays, charts, articles and data sheets. These essays will also refer to some of the literary
and critical works which are considered important, but not analysed in depth in the
articles, which will contain the analysis of the works. In-depth charts will be present in
each section in order to give insights into the biography and bibliography of the author,
and these will be linked to the individual works analysed. Every part of the Anthology will
be conceived as ahypertextual and interactive text provided with internal and external
links.There will also be data sheets, which are short articles dealing with specifics topics
and explanations of literary genres. These data sheets are meant to give a deeper insight
into the characteristics of a literary genre in regard of the electronic or digital tools applied
or the form of the literary text. The history of electronic literature is, as mentioned above,
better understood and appreciated when the development of both the constituent
dimensions, that is of IT and literature, are taken into account. The Anthology will only
feature works which can be found and played by the reader in order to facilitate
theoretical learning. For this very reason, performances and installations will not be
analysed in the Anthology, but only in the online platform. Another important criterion will
be the status of digitally born work. These kinds of works can’t be printed on paper
without losing their basic and characteristic features, as for example multimediality, or at
least altering the work in a significant way. The fourth criterion will be the value of
exemplarity, as the work should feature characteristics and technologies typical of the
genre or sub-genre it belongs to.The last criterion will concern the quality and quantity of
the works of single authors. It is useful to analyse these three instances of the basic
communication system as it is presented in the theories of structuralism: author, medium
and receptor. The receptor therefore becomes a user who navigates through the text
guided by signs and hints on the screen, direct indications of the author or by simple
individual choice and intuition. From the very beginning, the reader gets involved in the
creation of the literary work, when asked to download software or to use a webcam. The
reading process itself depends on the selection of chapters or images. Besides that, the
digital devices have combined text with audio-visual effects. This innovation results in the
new way of reading defined as multiliteracy or multimedia literacy. all the works will be
seen as ‘multilevel systems’. These levels include data, process, presentations.
2.2 Gruppo Giada’s Online Project
The online project will be both an extension of the Anthology and a platform for the
creation of a new online community. The reasons for such a choice are essentially three.
First, the desire to be a bridge between the world of Academia and those who are the
actual readers of the works of electronic literature. Second, the desire to create and
sustain a network, which means to create a heterogeneous community of scholars, artists,
enthusiasts or curious others. Finally, the web allows a continuous updating of content and
the possibility to build on and expand aspects that could not find place in the ebook. The
online platform will contain a page where the Anthology can be downloaded as well as a
page with its description, index and bibliography; an interactive and continuously updated
chronology of the literary and critical works of electronic literature included in the
Anthology along with various inventions, discoveries and events related to the world of IT
relevant to the field. The translations will be made available to help those who are new to
electronic literature to better understand the scientific analyses that have been conducted
in the past as well as the issues and main theories currently affecting the field.
Conclusions
The two projects run by Gruppo Giada result from a constant demand for more
scholarship, more works and more diffusion in the Italian editorial industry. The release of
the Anthology and the creation of the website will be an attempt to build a bridge
between the academic field and a wider reading audience. However, the projects can rely
on an already existing group of Italian researchers and authors who could make a
significant contribution to the diffusion, analysis and discussion of electronic literature in
Italy.