Blog 1

Position Post

Already this semester we have encountered a couple different iterations of the same debate. The pro-print side laments all the ways that the Internet is ruining literature. The pro-tech side hopes digital technologies might reinvigorate literature for a new age. We can see how Jonathan Franzen and Lindsay Saienni fall on the pro-print side, while Brent Easton Ellis and Kenneth Goldsmith fall on the pro-tech side. Your task for this first post is to take a position on this debate.

You don’t need to agree with any of the writers we’ve read, or necessarily fall on one side or the other. But you do have to take a clear position. In other words, don’t equivocate by saying you can see it from both sides. Readers want a decisive argument! Give them one, even if you don’t feel it expresses your full belief. The idea here is to practice making an argument about how technological developments have impacted literature.

Be sure to practice good blogging habits as well: use links to reference examples, include images, or even videos. Most of all, be sure to point to specific literary examples to support your position. If you want examples, refer to the New Yorker article on r.H. Sin, the Bustle article on R.M. Drake, or Saienni article on the end of poetry. Your post should run between 200 and 300 words. For reference, this prompt is 240 words.