What is E-Lit?

Having experience in electronic literature from past courses, reading "Chapter One: Electronic Literature," by Scott Rettberg, and "E-Lit: What is it?" By N. Katherine Hayles, I feel as though my knowledge of electronic literature has become increasingly solidified as I rule out all technicalities of the term. The digital aspect of electronic literature is comparatively broader, as there is an understanding that the contextual aspect of E-lit is fluid, rather than the example mentioned, physical literature. E-lit, as referenced, also is a tool that seemingly "takes advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the standalone or networked computer." (Rettberg, p. 4) It "develops new ways of writing"(Rettberg, p. 5) and performances. Electronic literature is conforming to the idea that "textuality and communication are now digitally mediated" (Rettberg, p. 2) Which explains the complexity of the term and its use through the 90s to the present and how, as humans continue to coevolve with the tools, by providing more cultural and historical contexts, not only does electronic literature in a broad sense become more accessible, but it becomes strikingly more realistic as time progresses now with AI and generative tools. Returning to the idea that electronic literature is breaching into, "hopeful monsters" (Hayles, 2008, p. 4) as a sort of lens into the possibilities that e-lit holds in comparison to tools such as AI that have already passed the point of being defined as "monsters." 

As some see electronic literature as difficult to define, I see that e-lit is an accessible, multidisciplinary form of literature that takes on digital elements to produce a unique form of storytelling. 

With my experience in creating electronic literature, it not only illuminates the interactive element of a nonlinear storyline, but regardless, everything that is written IS intentional and strategically placed. As I realize a lot of the information being given about e-lit is from the 1990s, which I find fascinating, as networking and digital devices did not have a lot of information behind them. So, understanding those concepts of how early e-lit came to be was something that cleared up any confusion I had. Giselle Beiguelman's Code 1 Movie was definitely a piece of e-lit that left me perplexed out of the other pieces I used. Understanding the idea of hexa code and how that is implemented into the construction of new translations that can be morphed into other digital pieces explains the idea of this interconnection of networking and the connection that exists in electronic literature.