Generative literature
| Generative literature | |
|---|---|
| Features | Poetry and fiction generated automatically, usually using computers. |
| Related genres | |
| Electronic literature, Digital poetry, Generative art | |
Generative literature is poetry or fiction that is automatically generated, often using computers. It is a genre of electronic literature, and also related to generative art.
John Clark's Latin Verse Machine (1830–1843) is probably the first example of mechanised generative literature,[1][2] while Christopher Strachey's love letter generator (1952) is the first digital example.[3] With the large language models (LLMs) of the 2020s, generative literature is becoming increasingly common.
Definitions[edit]
Hannes Bajohr defines generative literature as literature involving "the automatic production of text according to predetermined parameters, usually following a combinatory, sometimes aleatory logic, and it emphasizes the production rather than the reception of the work (unlike, say, hypertext)."[4]
In his book Electronic Literature Scott Rettberg connects generative literature to avant-garde literary movements like Dada, Surrealism, Oulipo and Fluxus.[5] Bajohr argues that conceptual art is also an important reference.[4]
Paradigms of generative literature[edit]
Bajohr describes two main paradigms of generative literature: the sequential paradigm, where the text generation is "executed as a sequence of rule-steps" and employs linear algorithms, and the connectionist paradigm, which is based on neural nets.[4] The latter leads to what Bajohr calls a algorithmic empathy: "a non-anthropocentric empathy aimed not at the psychological states of the artists but at understanding the process of the work’s material production."[4]
Poetry generation[edit]
The first examples of automated generative literature are poetry: John Clark's mechanical Latin Verse Machine (1830–1843) produced lines of hexameter verse in Latin,[1][2] and Christopher Strachey's love letter generator (1952), programmed on the Manchester Mark 1 computer, generated short, satirical love letters.[3]
Examples of generative poetry using artificial neural networks include David Jhave Johnston's ReRites.
Narrative generation[edit]
Story generators have often followed specific narratological theories of how stories are constructed. An early example is Grimes' Fairy Tales, the "first to take a grammar-based approach and the first to operationalize Propp's famous model."[6] Mike Sharples and Rafael Peréz y Peréz's book Story Machines gives a detailed history of story generation.[7]
Storyland by Nanette Wylde is an example of generative narrative. Jonathan Baillehache compares Storyland to Surrealist writing. Baillehache states, "When compared to earlier uses of chance operation in literature, a piece like this one resembles some of the automatic writings produced by André Breton and Philippe Soupault in their collective work The Magnetic Fields. . . The difference between Nanette Wylde’s Storyland and Breton and Soupault’s Magnetic Fields is that the former is produced according to a computational algorithm involving randomizers and user interaction, and the latter by two free-wheeling human subjects."[8]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Sharples, Mike (2023-01-01). "John Clark's Latin Verse Machine: 19th Century Computational Creativity". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 45 (1): 31–42. arXiv:2301.05570. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2023.3241258. ISSN 1058-6180.
- ^ a b Hall, Jason David (2007-09-01). "Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 62 (2): 222–249. doi:10.1525/ncl.2007.62.2.222. ISSN 0891-9356.
- ^ a b Rettberg, Scott (2019). Electronic literature. Cambridge, UK Medford, MA: Polity press. ISBN 978-1-5095-1677-3.
- ^ a b c d Bajohr, Hannes (2020). "Algorithmic Empathy: On Two Paradigms of Digital Generative Literature and the Need for a Critique of AI Works". Media Culture and Cultural Techniques Working Papers (4). doi:10.5451/UNIBAS-EP79106.
- ^ Rettberg, Scott (2019). Electronic literature. Cambridge, UK Medford, MA: Polity press. ISBN 978-1-5095-1677-3.
- ^ Ryan, James (2017), Nunes, Nuno; Oakley, Ian; Nisi, Valentina (eds.), "Grimes' Fairy Tales: A 1960s Story Generator", Interactive Storytelling, vol. 10690, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 89–103, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71027-3_8, ISBN 978-3-319-71026-6, retrieved 2023-08-01
- ^ Sharples, Mike; Pérez y Pérez, Rafael (2022). Story machines: how computers have become creative writers. London New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-003-16143-1.
- ^ Baillehache, Jonathan (2013). "Chance Operations and Randomizers in Avant-garde and Electronic Poetry: Tying Media to Language". Textual Cultures. 8 (1): 38–56. doi:10.14434/TCv8i1.5049. ISSN 1933-7418.