Text, author, and reader: mutations of Arabic creativity in the digital age

Abstract

Abstract The triad of the reader, author, and text is undergoing significant transformations with the advent of the new digital paradigm and the emergence of born-digital literary forms. Since the late 1980s, when electronic literary studies began to take shape, ‘reader agency’ has expanded (Murray 2018: 6–7), and authorship has evolved into a distributed, shared, and collaborative activity between the author and the reader/interactor. With the advancement of digital communication technologies and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), this triad has been assigned even more advanced capacities and roles. This study examines the dynamics of interaction and collaboration within the reader–author–text triad, analysing their manifestations in several Arabic literary texts against the backdrop of English texts. The primary aim is to trace the evolution of reading, authorship, and textuality as they transition from traditional literacy to digitality, offering a conceptualization and definition of their new roles and horizons in Arabic literature. An interdisciplinary approach, grounded in digital literary studies and cultural critique, will be employed. The theoretical framework will address related concepts such as interactivity, distributed authorship, and augmented and immersive reading. The practical analysis will explore how these creative tactics and dynamics have opened new avenues and expanded the boundaries of authorship and reading in various Arabic literary texts.