This will be a course about how 21st century literature (novels, poetry, experimental prose, graphic narrative) is converging with digital media and internet culture. We will consider how conceived-for-print literary works engage with and formally incorporate digital writing (for example, the blog, the tweet, the emoji, or the video), and how born-digital works vivify the affordances of the social media platforms through which they were first published (for example, Twitter, Instagram, Wattpad). Beyond examining the comparative media environments of contemporary literature, we will also ask how such environments compel the re-imagination of high-low divides: literary versus popular culture, coterie prestige versus internet celebrity, professional versus amateur cultural production. Finally, we will ask how literature might lend insight into the far-reaching effects of the internet on society. In this vein, we will address such topics as the rise of sharing economies, social media activism, anxieties about automation and the end of secure employment due to an internet-facilitated crowd-based capitalism. Authors and texts to be drawn from: Chimamanda Adichie, Americanah; Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake and with Naomi Alderman, Happy Zombie Sunrise Home; Lauren Beukes, Zoo City or Broken Monsters; Xu Bing, Book from the Ground; excerpts of Elena Ferrante, Frantumaglia; Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey; Jarret Kobek, I Hate the Internet; Claudia Rankine, Citizen; Twitter Fiction by Teju Cole, Jennifer Egan, David Mitchell, Neil Gaiman. Secondary Criticism to be drawn from literary and media studies. Exemplary scholars might include: Jim English, Christian Fuchs, David Golumbia, N. Katherine Hayles, Lewis Hyde; Henry Jenkins, Lawrence Lessig; Heather Love, Mark McGurl, Lisa Nakamura, Jessica Pressman, others. Writing Assignments: Students will have the option to experiment with different academic forms of writing – be it conference papers for oral presentation, article-length essays aspiring to peer-review publication, or short/long form writing for digital venues.