Directory of Electronic Literature

The Electronic Literature Directory is a community-driven endeavor that seeks to identify and describe works of electronic literature that appear within the growing cosmos of digital media forms. Some works seem, at first blush, to identify themselves as literary, others only appear so after careful reading and consideration. The grand result is that the ELD itself is something of a microcosm of the larger macrocosm from which it is drawn--a sprawling and chaotic assemblage of voices writing about an equally sprawling and chaotic body of work. The editors try to guard ourselves against pushing a narrative by being transparent about our principles and always seeking to broaden our readership and our content. As a result, much of the chaos and sprawl of the ELD is intentional. However, this is the place where we, the editors, do step outside of our neutral aspirations to highlight a particular frame of reference, an historicizing narrative, or an intriguing trajectory. Rather than think of these invited interventions as definitive statements on Electronic Literature, we ask you to see them as shapes in the clouds or constellations in the night sky. We invite you to lay on the grass and gaze with us, for a moment, to ponder the patterns and consider their implications. --Davin Heckman (editor)