What happens when we apply today’s ideas about social networks back onto literature of the past? It’s easy to think of these networks as a new feature of 21st century life — but our guest Paul Saint-Amour argues that earlier novels also had a profound understanding of how information travels.
Bonus clip
Paul Saint Amour on how he turned Middlemarch into a role-playing game for his students.
Works mentioned
– George Eliot, Middlemarch
– Mark Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
– James Joyce, Ulysses
Further reading
Paul Saint-Amour at The New York Times – Waiting for the Bomb to Drop
Rebecca Mead at The Guardian – George Eliot, Middlemarch and me
An animated introduction by Dalton Conley to The Strength of Weak Ties
Amy Brady at Literary Hub – What Kind of Literature Lives on the Dark Web?
Andrew O’Hagan at The Guardian – Will social media kill the novel?
Nikesh Shukla at Electric Literature – Nine Novels That Stink Of Social Media