Emerging literary forms

21st Century Literature

De La Salle University
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The 21st century reader
Who is the 21st century reader?
✗ Grew up using technology
as a primary learning tool
✗ Capable of navigating and
understanding digital
formats and media
messages

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What is 21st century
literature?
21st century literature
✗ Literary works created within the last decade
2001 - onwards
✗ Deals with current themes/issues
✗ Reflects a technological culture
✗ Written by contemporary authors
✗ Various literary forms are emerging at this time

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What are the emerging
literary forms in the
21st century?
Illustrated novels
ILLUSTRATED NOVELS
✗ Generally, 50% of the narrative is presented
through illustrations or may not even content
text
✗ The reader must interpret the images to
comprehend the complete story
✗ Illustrated novels may span all genres

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ILLUSTRATED NOVELS

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manga
JAPANESE MANGA
✗ Encompasses all comic and graphic works
published in Japan
✗ Pages are read from right to left
✗ Five categories:
1. Shonen
2. Shojo
3. Seinen
4. Josei
5. Kodomo
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Flash fiction
FLASH FICTION
✗ A very short story
✗ Characterized by the brevity
and straightforwardness of
presentation
✗ No set word count, but can
be short as a few words

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digi-fiction
DIGI-FICTION
✗ Combines three media: book, movie/video, and
Internet website
✗ In order to interpret the complete story, one
must engage in the navigation of all three
formats

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DIGI-FICTION
✗ Read the book
✗ Look for clues
✗ Visit the website
✗ Play a game
✗ Unlock more clues

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Doodle fiction
DOODLE FICTION
✗ Incorporates doodle
drawings and handwritten
graphics in place of
traditional font
✗ Drawings enhance the
story, often adding
humorous elements that
would be missing if the
illustrations were omitted
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Speculative fiction
SPECULATIVE FICTION
✗ Stories that take place
beyond our known world
✗ Could be dystopian,
post-apocalyptic or
fantastical

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Graphic novels
Graphic novels
✗ A narrative work in which the story is conveyed
through comic form
✗ May encompass non-fiction works, short stories,
fictional stories, and other genres

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Graphic novels

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Slam poetry
SLAM POETRY
✗ Art of performing
spontaneous poetry by
focusing on aesthetics of
word play, intonation,
and voice inflection

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Emerging literary forms in the 21st century
✗ Illustrated Novels ✗ Doodle Fiction
✗ Manga ✗ Speculative Fiction
✗ Flash Fiction ✗ Graphic Novels
✗ Digi-Fiction ✗ Slam Poetry

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