Work in Progress: Curatorial Labor in Twenty-First-Century American Fiction [Paperback]

Work in Progress: Curatorial Labor in Twenty-First Century American Fictioninterrogates 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 narrativeBuilding Storiesby Chris Ware, the music albumSong Readerby the indie rock artist Beck Hansen, and the computer gameKentucky Route Zeroby 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 readercuratorial 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.

A cutting-edge reflection on what happens when new media become routine and novelty turns into convention.Work in Progresscharts new ground, exploring phenomena that are very much in the process of unfolding. Moving elegantly and effortlessly from media theory to hermeneutics and back again, Rieke Jordan brings her knowledge to bear on a wide range of diverse mel#'