FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES
ON
WEB FICTION
2004

N Katherine Hayles
extract from Writing Machines

key text

N Katherine Hayles 'Entering the Electronic Environment' in Writing Machines (MIT Press, 2002).

Writing Machines has been called a 'zine for adults' and an 'art book', and the book designer, Anne Burdick, is given almost as much credit as Katherine Hayles. I shall bring the book to class so that you can see, and feel, the artifact: the cover is ribbed and the inside pages self-consciously and riotously deploy design elements such as fonts and images. I hope you enjoy the experimental style of the key chapter.

compulsory exercise

• Read/ browse through the chapter fairly quickly, jotting down your first impressions (both intellectual and emotional).
• Now read the piece more carefully. What do you make of Hayles' semi-autobiographical methodology? In what ways do you find such a method useful, in what ways constraining?
• Hayles reflects on her encounters with computers and fiction. Did you enjoy her narrative? Think about which parts of her life she picks out, and which parts you feel she is omitting - are there places you wanted her to go? Do you identify with any of her musings? How is your relationship with computers and fiction different from that of Hayles?
• Now write your own narrative of your relationship to a) computers, b) fiction, or c) fiction and computers. Bring to class a short piece (about 3 minutes) as a starting point for discussion.

secondary reading

See the Writing Machines web site on http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/mediawork/. This contains a rather intriguing web supplement and a response to the book by Erik Loyer. As well as browsing, think about how the web faciliates new ways to respond to texts. List some of the values and limitations of these web responses.

For other accessble and sassy autobiographical responses to contemporary technology, read:
Flis Henwood, Helen Kennedy and Nod Miller (eds), Cyborg Lives: Women's Technobiographies (Raw Nerve, 2001). Details on www.rawnervebooks.co.uk/detailscl.html (opens in new browser).

Lynn Cherny and Elizabeth Reba Weise (eds), Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace (Seal Press, 1996).

after the class session

Once you have had a chance to reflect on the class discussion, post a response on Yahoo. Read what others say, and keep talking . . .