Digital Literature: The Importance of the Medium

Abstract

This chapter explains the forms literature takes in new media and analyses the importance of digital literature in the Iranian literary field. This chapter studies the impact of the digital medium on the evolutions of contemporary Iranian literature through case studies of literary blogs and literary Instagram, which stand at either end of the chronology of Persian digital literature. Does digital literature democratise the field and include writers who are not part of the literary establishment? What innovations in terms of form, topic, style does it introduce? How has it evolved between different platforms? What is the role of censorship in this process? This chapter examines digital literature by Iranian nationals, which includes material written by Iranians in Iran, as well as in languages spoken by Iranians in the diaspora, primarily English and French.