"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of alway's looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" (DuBois 3). Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky, quotes W.E.B. DuBois in his article "DJing Is Writing/Writing Is DJing." I've been exploring DuBois' seminal work in one of my other classes and I would have never thought to integrate DuBois' concept into our Cyber Rhetoric class. If you've never encountered double consciousness before, or need a refresher, the Wikipedia article is quite informing and in lay language. It includes the quote that I've used above and explains it more in depth.
In my consideration of the connection between this literary critical idea and our study of the cyber sphere I have come to the conclusion that the juxtaposition between electronic and print texts may call for an examination of the way we critically approach texts in different mediums in the digital age.
Stephen Ramsay suggests in his book, "Reading Machines: Towards an Algorithmic Criticism," that computers should be considered viable resources in the field of literary criticism. He says, "If algorithmic criticism is to have a central hermeneutical tenet, it is this: that the narrowing constraints of computational logic -- the irreducible tendency of the computer toward enumeration, measurement, and verification -- is fully comparable with the goals of criticism..." (Ramsay 16). I think that Ramsay makes a valid point, but I think the issue regarding the integration of electronics and criticism lies not in the technological tools but in the literary theory. I would ask if there needs to be a different lens through which we view electronic words and texts, or can we examine them in the same way as their print predecessors?
To clarify, I am not asking if we should only use computers to explore electronic texts; instead, I'm suggesting that the critical approach we apply to electronic text may need to be different from printed texts. A parallel can be drawn from preexisting literary criticism and its evolution over the last century as the coinage of 'double consciousness' by W.E.B. DuBois led to a revolutionary recognition of the separate existence of multiple consciousnesses.
His ideas in "The Souls of Black Folks" then gave way to African American criticism. By defining a line between the white and black consciousnesses, DuBois then created an argument for the validity of a separate consideration of the African American lens.
Electronic texts are becoming increasingly validated through their integration in the academic sphere. However, their integration does not signify assimilation. Kenneth Goldsmith points out the differences between printed texts and electronic texts by defining the differences between the purpose of their words. He says, "Words very well might not only written to be read [as is the case for printed texts] but rather to be shared, moved, and manipulated, sometimes by humans, more often by machines [in the case of electronic texts..." (Goldsmith 15).
I believe it is limiting to only view electronic texts through the eyes of printed text and measure their worth against their paper peers. If we create a separate type of criticism, that takes into account the intricacies of the cyber sphere, I believe it will lead to more in-depth research and understanding as well as more authentic research. As I wrote last week in my post about possibly creating a separate kind of Reader-Response Criticism that incorporates hypertext, I believe that the electronic literary world merits both incorporation into the preexisting literary field and separate recognition of its own literary worth.
Works Cited:
DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folks. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961. Print.
Goldsmith, Kenneth. "Revenge of the Text." Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age. New York: Columbia UP, 2011.
Ramsay, Stephen. Reading Machines: Toward An Algorithmic Criticism. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2011. Print.
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