Creative Writing Studio: Internet Literature

Undergraduate / Graduate

From Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts to Patricia Lockwood's No One is Talking About This, there has been a recent surge of popular fiction that not only employs online-based communication as a narrative device, but explores the Internet as a new field of literature: a field with its own rhetoric, network of referents, and unique poetics. In this Writing Studio, we will explore the evolution of Internet Literature from early Internet-focused works-such as Dennis Cooper's Sluts and Jeanette Winterson's The PowerBook-to contemporary works such as Olivia Laing's Crudo, Esther Yi's Y/N, and B.R. Yeager's Amygdalatropolis. We will also hone our craft understanding of Internet Literature through writing exercises that engage with Internet forms, including social media, message boards, and various iterations of AI. The course will include reading discussions, short weekly written responses, and workshopping of original student work.