Radical Change

It took me a long time to sit down and compose this blog entry. Whenever I think about radical change and literature, I am torn. On one hand, I love the idea of creating layered and/or interactive texts. Cathy's Book sounds amazing, and I am impressed by the complexity of Skeleton Sky.

Having said that, I also wonder where creativity ends and gimmicks begin. For instance, clicking through Skeleton Sky, I found myself engaging with the process more than the words. Although I enjoyed clicking the links and following the poem down different paths, I didn't feel like I was really absorbing the words of the poem. It was too tempting to click on a new link. I felt like I was surfing the web; not reading a poem.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are e-books. Despite their digital format, e-books are really nothing new. I find it difficult to classify e-books as "radical" simply because they are published electronically rather than on a printing press.

I think the radical books in which I am most interested - both as a reader and as a teacher - are graphic novels and pop-up books. These texts retain the tactile nature of books, which creates a sense of intellectual delineation unique to traditional reading: the reader's eyes are tethered to the confines of the printed page. This feels somewhat different to me than electronic media, which may be situated on a particular device, but is capable of migrating, and seems to permit the eye to wander in ways that traditional texts do not. Frankly, we are used to skimming digital media.

In contrast, graphic novels and pop-up books demand even closer attention to visual details. In order to interpret the text, the reader must understand how to read both words and design. Perhaps this is also true of digital texts. But the point and click interface of a digital text like Skeleton Sky feels more like a game to me Reading a graphic novel like Maus or Runaways also feels participatory, but not in a "game playing" way.

Then there are texts like Nothing, which is technically a traditional book. However Nothing felt radical to me in terms of its subject matter and its use of old fashioned allegorical devices to create a new kind of philosophical text. I think this is what Dresang means when she talks about "the concomitant change in a growing cadre of printed books for youth." Radical change is not just about changes in form or medium; radical change is about increased complexity, often masquerading as simplicity. After all, Nothing is written in straightforward, almost childish prose. Skeleton Sky is incredibly easy to navigate. Yet both are inordinately complex narratives.

The more I thought about radical change, the more I realized that I don't believe there's any question whether to incorporate radical change into the English classroom. Asking such a question is a little bit like wondering whether the classroom should have a floor or air. If radical change is happening (and I agree with Dresang's assertion that it is) I think it is becoming part of the fabric of our literary world. I think the trick is to figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff - but that's no different from the challenge English teachers already face, is it?