Day 3: Barthelme's "The School"

Today, we discussed Barthelme's "The School" and why it was "good literature."
Some elements we liked:
- it did not teach us a lesson
- that it made us think about what it means to be human
     - about grief and loss
     - the meaning of life
- we liked the representation
    - of the experience of loss
    - the experience of triumph
    - the "righting" of world order
    - the students (the author respected these characters, they were all smart and articulate, acting older than normal 4th grade children would)

This was a print story, posted online. It is not Electronic Literature. We talked about ways to make this story Electronic Literature, using hypertext, interactive fiction and digital poetry.
Your best suggestions included:
- linking to similar philosophies about the meaning of life
- including a comment section for readers to respond and interact with one another

We also debated about whether or not these changes would be useful. Many of you felt that such changes would distract readers from the original story. And I agree that many superfulous changes (such as definitions of a term, linking to the author's biography, or images of gerbils) would indeed be distracting. But links to substantive topics (such as philosophical essays that further explore the "meaning of life") could be useful and enrich the reading experience.

Your homework: prepare for journal presentations on Monday