Immersive Reading of e-literature

Abstract

The text takes a closer look at the relationship between the flow strategy used by e-literature authors and the immersive nature of a literary work. The concept of flow refers to processual works that produce the impression of gradual or dynamic flow across the screen and smooth transformations. It is usually used to construct imagery or to build up the momentum of an e-work. Immersion, in turn, is the desire/consent that emerges between the viewer-interactor and the e-artwork to sustain the impression of being (through perceptual and interpretive immersion and involvement) inside another virtual reality. The reader can experience the strongest feeling of immersion in works created with the use of CAVE (virtual cave) environment, although immersion is also possible with less technologically advanced e-literature, as immersive reading levels result from the various combination of elements such as spatialization, colors and graphics exposing processuality or depth effect, sounds that induce the viewer to enter the role of interactor, etc. Researchers look at the immersiveness of e-literature as an artistic expression of opposition to the posture of cool expert detachment prevailing in twentieth-century historical and critical literary discourse at universities. Immersion can thus be considered a kind of “bridge” that guarantees engagement in reading, a chance of regaining lost readerly involvement.