Work in progress : curatorial labor in twenty-first-century American fiction / Rieke Jordan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jordan, Rieke, author.

Series:

Thinking media (Bloomsbury (Firm))

Thinking media

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--21st century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Reader-response criticism.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xx, 196 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 2019.

Summary:

"Work in Progress: Curatorial Labor in Twenty-First Century American Fiction interrogates contemporary texts that showcase forms of reading practices that feel anachronistic and laborious in times of instantaneity and short buffering times. Objects of analysis include the graphic narrative Building Stories by Chris Ware, the music album Song Reader by the indie rock artist Beck Hansen, and the computer game Kentucky Route Zero by the programming team Cardboard Computer. These texts stage their fragmentary nature and alleged 'unfinishedness' as a quintessential part of both their narrative and material modus operandi. These works in and of progress feel both contemporary and retro in the 21st century. They draw upon and work against our expectations of interactive art in the digital age, incorporating and likewise rejecting digital forms and practices. This underlines the material and narrative flexibilities of the objects, for no outcome or reading experience is the same or can be replicated. It becomes apparent that the texts presuppose a reader who invests her spare time in figuring these texts out, diagnosing a contorted work-leisure dichotomy: 'working these stories out' is a significant part of the reading experience for the reader-curatorial labor. This conjures up a reader, who, as the author argues, is turned into a curator and creative entity of and in these texts, for she implements and reassembles the options made available"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface : when the internet dropped its capital i

Work in progress, curatorial labor

A tale of two buildings : Chris Ware's Building stories

The broken record : Beck Hansen's Song reader

Kentucky Route Zero's netherworld of slowness

Coda : what's the matter, media?.

Notes:

Revision of author's thesis (doctoral)--Freie Universität Berlin, 2016, titled Work in progress : curation and creativity in 21st century American fiction.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Jordan, Rieke, author. Work in progress

ISBN:

9781501347726

1501347721

OCLC:

1057759925