ABSTRACT
Electronic literature is comparative literature. Electronic literature demands that readers compare not only language and text but also the media formats and ecologies that support them. Examining the medial contexts and networked configurations that support digital literature exposes the inextricable connections between the technological, linguistic, cultural, and political. Electronic literature has emerged as a robust field across diverse genres, languages, readerships, and nations. In addition to promoting comparison across languages, electronic literature can invite consideration of the relationship between human and machinic languages. Electronic literature also invites comparison between languages and opportunities to compare how meaning operates across multiple medial and sensorial modes. The field of electronic literature is full of artists exploring the actions, intentions, and purposes of comparative reading. Certain genres of contemporary web-based electronic literature depend upon the Internet’s technological structure for their literary effects. Including comparative textual studies as part of comparative literary studies opens interdisciplinary channels for communication, collaboration, and, yes, comparison.
