Introduction: Aesthetics of new technological humanities

Abstract

In the age of digital technology, world literature with its networks of texts from different eras addresses global and transcultural themes in rhizomatic webs of texts, images, and sounds that circulate beyond its culture of origin. Literary text files, artistic images, and other cultural materials are stored, retrieved, and classified into digitized networks, and then transformed into computerized datasets. The intrinsic potential of the medium becomes transformative, and transmedia art is exposed to the very rapidly transforming material conditions of technology itself. Then, in what ways may the arts and literature make use of the “technological breakthrough” to inspire new forms of creativity, thought, and ethical behavior? How can we interpret world literature, transmedia, and digital humanities in this age of eco-technological feedback loops? This paper attempts to provide an answer by arguing that recent trends have shed light on the aesthetic value and future of “the humanities” by highlighting the unique interactions between literature, media, and digital technology in terms of “convergence” and “intermediality,” revealing the aesthetics of new technological humanities.