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This
paper, which is part of the collection of essays
Reading
Moving Letters (see
introduction)
reflects on what the emerging field of digital
literature studies and the more established (but
continually evolving) discipline of comparative
literature might contribute to one another in terms
of defining concepts and methods of literary
analysis. My discussion is guided by the tentative
proposition that the vexed status of the "national
language" for comparative literature can be seen as
analogous to the status of the "digital" for
scholars undertaking research on computer-based
literary texts. Aiming to overcome the ideological
strictures of nationalism, many present-day
comparatists are returning to the old question
"what is literature?" and are placing renewed
emphasis on the role of figurative language as a
defining feature of literary texts and,
consequently, as the appropriate focus of
comparative textual analysis. Should scholarship in
electronic literature head in a similar direction
and cultivate skepticism about the essentialism of
the digital, opening up greater possibilities for
comparative work across literary media? In support
of an affirmative answer to this question, the
essay undertakes a detailed comparative analysis of
Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "Herbst" ("Autumn") and
American artist Rudy Lemcke's digital video poem
"The Uninvited."
1. Reading Digital Literature
2. Comparative Literature’s Defense of the
Figure
3. Rilke’s “Autumn” and
Lemcke’s “The Uninvited”
4. Conclusion
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