Writing Theories

Meaning is culturally constructed. The word; first orally transmitted, then transmitted through print, and now electronically transmitted, remains paramount in the creation and transmission of meaning. Walter J. Ong suggests that the electronic age has ushered in a "second orality - a technology in which orality is central but subservient or dependent on writing and print" (Gladney 98). The reach and scope of electronic orality is much broader than previous forms of orality because, according to Ong, electronic orality "generates a sense for groups immeasurably larger than those of primary oral culture" (Gladney 98).

Computer technologies continue to drive the second orality, one where literature is undergoing changes similar to other aspects of culture impacted by technology. Virtuality of literature is a concept that most view as implying a disembodying of text from the reading experience. Ong (21) suggests that Plato has Socrates criticize writing in Phaedrus in a manner comparable to those who criticize virtual reality in literature, for Socrates maintains that writing is "inhuman, pretending to establish outside the mind what in reality can only be in the mind."

Despite such objections to the virtuality of literature as a disembodying engagement, Katherine Hayles (1) argues that electronic literature does not abandon materiality but integrates it within information technologies. Technological developments, including those associat

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s. When cinema first made its appearance, the same claims were made about its impact on society and the printed novel which it was threatening to make obsolete. Similar claims have been made about electronic or virtual technologies but far from removing the imagination or the material they have merely "transformed the way that narratives are enjoyed," according to Page (34). In fact, some theorists maintain that ultimately we may be able to substitute one consciousness for another without losing the critical mentality of the reader. As Raman Selden suggests of this potential capacity for virtual literature, "The reader is made to think the thoughts of another. The book I read lives its life through me like a vampire living off another's blood. When I read I have direct access to the author's ideas, feelings and �modes of dreaming and living,' and I myself think these thoughts as I read" (Page 34). The immersion of the reader into the world of virtual reality does not remove the capacity of the individual for critical thinking. Those who oppose virtual reality often argue that the immersion of the reader into narrative in the virtual world removes the detachment required for critical thinking. However, immersion in virtual

Category: Psychology - W