Collaboration in e-literature: From “The Unknown” to “Piksel Zdrój”

Collaboration in e-literature, thanks to the interdisciplinary, intersemiotic and computationalnature of the field, is a subject close to a vast majority of artists and critics. However, the particularitiesof the collaborative process are discussed mostly in interviews, panels and privateconversations. The number of critical analyses and overviews is still relatively small. The aimof this article is to expand on the existing findings (especially Scott Rettberg’s reflection onthe collaborative aspects of The Unknown and Nick Montfort’s arguments on collaborativeprogramming), propose several new categories that may prove useful and introduce a Polishexample of a collaborative creative work (the hypertext Piksel Zdrój authored by 8 writers,2015). Of importance are also questions of identity of e-literature within a vast horizon ofcollaborative activities in game development, as well as the notion of authorship and authorialintegrity, which literary collaboration in the digital realm puts to a heavy stress test.In my reflection, e-lit collaboration is situated within two contexts, one of which has beengaining prominence in recent years. On the one hand it is traditional collaboration in literatureand film, on the other, collaboration in games and software. Posing questions aboutthe place of e-literary collaboration among creative participation in other media – as I willdemonstrate – might bring insights not only about the specificity of participatory activities inthe field but also about the identity of electronic literature within the general cultural landscape.