The new technologies and the novel: re-coding narrative in book form

The influence and impact of new communication technologies, computer-mediated communication and the Internet on literature in book form has not attracted as much attention as born digital literature - at least so far. The two worlds, electronic literature(s) and printed novels that engage and experiment with the new technologies on paper, are so far worlds apart - both creatively and critically - and it is not the intent of this paper to bridge this gap now, though a ‘compare and contrast’ analysis may be part of a follow-up research. Here, the focus is on the novel in book form and on new media and their technologies, both as hardware and software, including the Internet and varied web content — web pages, online magazines, blogs, chat rooms, forums, social networks and media — as well as mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and therefore text messaging (SMS) and instant messenger services. Three main questions guide this paper. Have the Internet, the new media and digital devices altered the way authors conceive, design and weave together their narratives in books? How is the interaction or mutual relation between various old and new media (art, cartoons, cinema, and TV included) achieved within the codex book? Do authors expunge or expose the phenomenon of media merging and interaction? In addressing these questions, this study aims to provide a preliminary reading of what stands at the other hand of current literary production and its forms of intermediality, namely the traditional book form novel.