Exploring with blogs

The topic for this week’s class discussion is Blogs and Social Media Fictions.  The readings assigned were by Daniel Escandell “Literatura y simbiosis: El blog como marco de creación literaria”, “El autor y el avatar” and “La blognovela from Escrituras para el siglo XXI: Literatura y blogsfera.  The suggested reading was by Mark Sample, “A Protest Bot is a Bot So Specific You Can’t Mistake it for Bullshit.” The prompt for this week’s blog entry revolves around the questions: Can a blog be literature? What does the literary consist of? What are the implications of re-purposing a non-literary platform for literary uses?

            In previous sessions, we have discussed the mediums in which literature is enacted. We have talked about the book technology, computers, typewriters, poster literature, and many other different mechanisms used to produce literature. In this week’s discussion, we are confronted with the idea of blogs as literature. For many that have never heard such a concept they might not have an answer right away, other critics might grant blogs to enter the real of literature. Daniel Escandell considers that, “El blog genera un espacio personal e informativo, aunque también el artístico cuando el formato madura y se establece” (156). Here Escandel alludes to the possibilities of the blog to reach other areas  (one of them might be literary) specially when the blog has been well established or has reached a maturity that allows it to explore other venues.

            Escandell further expands the idea of blogs as literature when he says that

“La blogoficcionalidad surge con la maduración de la plataforma blog como resultado de la exploración literaria del uso del espacio no como vía de expresión y reflexión biográficas por parte des sus usuarios sino como simulacro des esas actividades.”(56) Escandell considers that it is only when the author of the blog moves from mere autobiographical aims that literary fiction can be achieved. For him it is the factious representation of that reality that opens the door to many other possibilities. He further expands and says that the “blognovela… <<sólo es posible cuando ese “falso yo” se convierte en encarnación real de un tecnocuerpo, proyección avatarica del bloguero/autor al otro lado de la fibra óptica>>  (164). The fake “yo” that Escandell refers to is an avatar that allows its creator to explore reality in in surreal world. However, as observed by Escandell himself and other blog adepts. Blog writing can have its implications when the notions of reality and that which is unreal are altered.

            Escandell in his chapter makes reference to the case of Debbie Swenson who took her daughter and group of friends’ idea of creating a fictitious character Kaycee Nicole Swenson to further explore with it. For Debbie, ide of giving life to a fictitious character was very appealing, however she had not idea to where this innocent act would take her. After the unexpected attention to her character Swenson had not other resource than to kill her due to the fact that she had taken the story too far and would have to admit to her followers that Kaycee was not real in the mere sense of reality, but a fictitious character. Although Swenson, did not intended to use her blog to create literature, for some critics the intention is not important. For them what really matters is the result and the result is that Swenson created a fictitious character that seemed so real that it was not until after the death of the character that people began to suspect.

            As noted, literature can be explored trough many different mechanisms. Most recently, many different bloggers have used blogs to explore different possibilities and one of them has been to create literature. Nonetheless, some critics might sill questions the authenticity of this medium for literary purposes, while other might celebrate it.