And stumbled upon in the traditional way (by looking at Boynton's blog) an article about the use of weblogs as a literary genre in Mexico.
"It is a hybrid form that bears no resemblance to printed texts on paper: there are no paragraphs, just blocks of texts and a mix of genres."
No paragraphs? Hmmm... not sure about that, but it is a mix of genres.
This is interesting though:
"The Web log has certain characteristics of its own that make it an interesting popularizer of writing, but it doesn't qualify as a new literary genre. Heidegger called this anxious desire for new things "the appetite for novelty."
Editor and writer David Miklós also disagrees with the possibility of a new literary genre emerging from the electronic journal.
"The blog is, if anything, the ultimate expression of certain literary impulses that are as much narrative as they are poetic, essayistic and self-referential," he argues. "But a hybridization of genres and — why not? — a new literary genre can just as well be engendered in a book.'
Is the weblog a new literary genre? I'm not sure. It might be, but then, it may well be just a new format.
It's the Easter long weekend and I'm going to spend it packing and tidying the house and finishing a few bits and pieces on the computer. Should be thrilling, especially when everyone else seems to be going away. Still, it's hard to complain too much - all going according to plan in exactly two weeks I'll be going away for three months. I actually don't feel all that excited about it at the moment - but this is just because of the daunting prospect of all the things I have to get done in that amount of time. But I'll get through them, you always do.
