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This project arises out of our mutual interest in literary genre—what defines a genre, and what happens when a text travels? Our work with the Gothic suggests that genre inheres not in the text itself (in the content), but in the extratextual elements that shape it. It is what frames the words, how they are laid on a page, sounds, motions, and images, that influence reception. In other words, genre becomes performance. What an audience brings to a text affects the meaning as well—their assumptions, values, and prior knowledge condition the reaction by adding irony or mystery, causing confusion or delight.
To investigate the idea of "genre," we’ve taken a single piece of text and placed it in a variety of contexts. We struggled with generic definitions: How does one define categories like Romantic or Queer? How do we convey our conceptions to a viewer and what happens when they disagree? Colloquium discussions about new media spawned a secondary interest in software as genre: What are the markers of various types of software that have become familiar in modern life—word processing, computer gaming, instant messaging—and how do they shape reception of a literary text?
Our project, we hope, provokes visitors to consider these questions and explore their own assumptions about literature, software, and genre as they move the text and encounter multiple framing environments.
Technical note: This site originally used Macromedia Flash Player and QuickTime Player. In early 2021, it was updated to use more current technologies, but much of the interactivity was lost. Not all of the genres originally represented are available. See the original version.
The snippet of text that serves as the foundation for this project is taken from the concluding pages of Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk (1796). The eponymous monk, Ambrosio, has just consigned his soul to the Devil in exchange for being released from his prison cell, where he is being held by Inquisition officials on suspicion of murder. The Devil fulfills his promise, only to take Ambrosio to a deserted mountain peak, reveal the full extent of his crimes, and dash him to a tortuous death below. Had Ambrosio waited one more minute, he would have learned that the crowd of officials approaching his door was carrying a pardon for his crimes and not a warrant for his execution.
The subplot revolving around the seduced novitiate, Agnes de Medina, and her lover, Raymond de las Cisternas, has a more hopeful ending: although their newborn infant dies during Agnes's harrowing imprisonment, the couple is eventually reunited and wed with the prospect of future happiness.
Lewis's novel created quite a sensation upon its publication, attracting attention for its questionable morality, horrific and perverse images, "German" literary leanings, and reputed plagiarism. He was only twenty-one at the time of publication, but it has remained a classic gothic novel ever since. Though "Monk" Lewis did not write any other novels, he went on to write several successful stage plays, tales of wonder, poems, and a journal about his experiences on a West Indian plantation before dying of yellow fever in 1818.
Click here to see bookcovers from various editions of The Monk
Brent James is a Ph.D. Candidate in the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese. His dissertation, "Promiscuity Knocks: Contact and Conflict in Rio de Janeiro's Belle Epoque," explores literary representations of the criminal and the marginal during the city's period of accelerated urbanization and modernization. In 2006 he was awarded a UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for his work as a Portuguese language instructor.
Heather Wozniak is a Ph.D. Candidate in the UCLA Department of English. Her dissertation, "Brilliant Gloom: The Contradictions of British Gothic Drama, 1768-1823," examines the much-neglected theatrical cousins of gothic novels. She has taught courses on composition and literary analysis and TA'd for courses surveying British and American literature. In 2004-2005, she served as an Instructional Technology Consultant for the UCLA Center for Digital Humanities, where she assisted faculty and TAs who use technology in their teaching and researched emerging pedagogical tools. For more information on her research and teaching interests, please visit www.heatherwozniak.com.
This project was conceived and produced as part of the 2005-2006 Graduate New Media Colloquium, under the supervision of Professor N. Katherine Hayles.
We would like to thank the staff at the UCLA Center for Digital Humanities for their technical guidance, especially Shawn Higgins, Vergil Castelo, and Zoe Borovsky. UCLA's Teaching Enhancement Center at the Office of Instructional Development helpfully provided us access to equipment and software. Special thanks to Luke "Manofcloth" Brannon and Jamie Putorti-Sandheinrich for assistance with the World of Warcraft segment.
Sections that reproduce copyrighted material abide by the guidelines for fair use of copyrighted materials (1976 Copyright Act).
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Copyright © 2006 Brent James and Heather Wozniak