AustLit

'In their performative essay, 'E Lit Jazz,' Sandy Baldwin and Rui Torres suggest that electronic literature - literature that is based in computer coding - can learn from jazz (Baldwin and Torres 2017). they draw attention to qualities that electronic literature has in common with jazz, such as a tendency towards collaboration and textual variability. But they also suggest that there are aspects of jazz that electronic literature could emulate further, such as its daring and vitality, thematic complexity and engagement with the body. Although jazz has many evolving harmonic, rhythmic and timbral features that distinguish it aesthetically and culturally from other musics, the essential distinguishing feature of jazz is improvisation. Therefore the most fundamental question Baldwin and Torres ask is 'can code improvise?'' (Introduction)