Alternative literature (or alt-lit) is a

literary movement Literary movements are a way to divide literature into categories of similar philosophical, topical, or aesthetic features, as opposed to divisions by genre or period. Like other categorizations, literary movements provide language for comparing ...

strongly influenced by internet culture and online publishing. It includes various forms of

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, and new media. Alt-lit is characterized by self-publication and a presence on social media networks. Alternative literature brings together people with a common interest in the online publishing world.

Origins

The term was first used to refer to this community of writers in the summer of 2011, when Tumblr and Twitter accounts named "Alt Lit Gossip" emerged, created by Cory Stephens (@outmouth).Roggenbuck, Steve, E.E. Scott, and Rachel Younghans, eds. "Introduction." ''The Yolo Pages''. Boost House, 2014. Print. The accounts covered writers from presses and publications such as Muumuu House, ''Pop Serial'', and ''HTMLgiant'' in a style akin to celebrity gossip sources like ''TMZ''. After a few months the original accounts were deleted; they were revived by Frank Hinton in the fall of 2011, and began to gain popularity.

Shared traits across Alt Lit

Alt Lit is often characterized by self-publication, self-promotion, and the maintenance of a presence on social media networks. Josh Soilker has said that Alt Lit is "in blog posts, videos, gchats and Facebook status updates. In PDFs and folded papers..." and that the movement's principal figures were Tao Lin, Noah Cicero and Brandon Scott Gorrell. Alt Lit writers share Gmail chat logs, image macros, screenshots, and tweets, which are then self-published as poetry books and/or novels. Writing for the ''New Yorker'',

Kenneth Goldsmith Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an American poetry, poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and an artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches. He ...

characterized Alt Lit writing as "marked by direct speech, expressions of aching desire, and wide-eyed sincerity". He also noted that Alt Lit is "usually written in the Internet vernacular of lowercase letters, inverted punctuation, abundant typos, and bad grammar".

Authors and works

Literary magazines and blogs

Online and print Alt Lit magazines include ''SWAY Press'', ''Illuminati Girl Gang'', ''New Wave Vomit'', ''Pop Serial'', ''Shabby Doll House'', ''Have U Seen My Whale'', ''The Bushwick Review'', ''The Mall'', ''Keep This Bag Away From Children'', ''Everyday Genius'', ''Metazen'', ''Housefire'', ''UP Literature'', ''Parlor'', ''Sadcore Dadwave'', ''Red Lightbulbs'', ''In Parentheses'' and ''Unsure if i will allow my beard to grow for much longer''. Alt Lit news and creative blogs include ''Alt Lit Gossip'', ''I Am Alt Lit'', ''Internet Poetry'', ''HTMLGiant'', ''Beach Sloth'', ''Allthemacchs'', ''Heartcloud'', ''FRXTL'', ''Cutty Spot'', and ''Alt Lit Press''.

Presses and books

Presses publishing Alt Lit writing include Muumuu House, Civil Coping Mechanisms, Sorry House, Habitat, Boost House, Lazy Fascist, Macro, Nap, Scrambler Books, Publishing Genius, and Plain Wrap Press. Two anthologies of Alt Lit writing are ''The Yolo Pages'' (2014, Boost House) and ''40 Likely To Die Before 40: An Introduction to Alt Lit'' (2014, Civil Coping Mechanisms). More than 150 books, e-books, and zines of Alt Lit writing, mostly self-published, have been catalogued on the Tumblr blog ''Alt Lit Library''. Mellow Pages Library in Bushwick, Brooklyn, offers a wide selection of Alt Lit titles and hosts Alt Lit readings and book releases.

Authors

Alt Lit authors include

Sam Forster Samuel Forster is a Canadian American journalist, poet, and cultural critic whose 2024 book, ''Americosis'', was awarded the Sutherland House Prize for non-fiction. Forster is known for his immersive literary style — and for being one of few ...

Jacob M. Appel Jacob M. Appel (born February 21, 1973) is an American polymath, author, bioethicist, physician, lawyer, and social critic.Nagamatsu, Sequoia "A Few Words with the Ubiquitous Jacob M. Appel" ''Prince Mincer'' Journal http://primemincer.com/ con ...

Megan Boyle Megan Boyle (born October 15, 1985) is an American writer and filmmaker. Boyle grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and rose to prominence among the Alt lit, Alt Lit and internet community after writing popular articles for Thought Catalog and marryi ...

Melissa Broder Melissa Broder (born August 29, 1979) is an American author, essayist and poet. Her work includes the novels ''The Pisces'' (Penguin Random House 2018), ''Milk Fed''Simon and Schuster2021), and ''Death Valley'' (Scribner, 2023); the poetry collec ...

, Ben Brooks,

Blake Butler John David Blake Butler (22 October 1924 – 15 April 1981) was an English actor best known for his role as the lecherous chief librarian Mr. Wainwright during the first and third series of ''Last of the Summer Wine'' in 1973 and 1976 respect ...

, Marie Calloway, Jos Charles, Brendan Connell, Noah Cicero, Claire Donato, Horse eBooks, Joshua Jennifer Espinoza, Mira Gonzalez, Jamie Iredell,

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment o ...

, Scott McClanahan, Spencer Madsen, Guillaume Morissette, Steve Roggenbuck, Tim Sanders,

Lauren Oyler Lauren Oyler is an American author and critic. Her debut novel, '' Fake Accounts'', was published in February 2021. Early life and education Oyler was born and raised in Hurricane, West Virginia, where she attended Hurricane High School and was ...

, and Patricia Lockwood.

Related concepts and movements

Many writers and critics in and around the Alt Lit community have proposed different labels to be used in conjunction with or in place of "Alt Lit."

New Sincerity

Some critics have linked Alt Lit writers with New Sincerity, to the point of using the terms interchangeably. Notable Alt Lit writers such as Steve Roggenbuck, Spencer Madsen and

have also been grouped under the label "New Sincerity", but many Alt Lit writers reject the influence of

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American writer and professor who published novels, short stories, and essays. He is best known for his 1996 novel ''Infinite Jest'', which ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine ...

and prominent mainstream exponents of a "New Sincerity" such as

Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel ''The Corrections'' drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a Jame ...

. The New Sincerity connection entails the use of an array of literary techniques intended to create the impression of "sincere" communication, ranging from autobiography, self-revision and a conversational tone to minimal punctuation and sans-serif fonts.

Autofiction

Many Alt Lit writers, including Megan Boyle and Tao Lin, write autobiographical fiction or

autofiction Autofiction is, in literary criticism, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Definition In autofiction, an author may decide to recount their life in the Third-person narrative, third person, to modify significant details and characters, use in ...

Electronic literature

Electronic literature Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature where digital capabilities such as interactivity, multimodality or Generative literature, algorithmic text generation are used aesthetically. Works of electronic literature ar ...

(or e-lit, pronounced ''ee-litt'') is an older field including any literary work explicitly written to be read on a digital computer or network. What scholar Leonardo Flores calls third generation electronic literature - literary works that use social media and other popular platforms - would include many works that are also thought of as alt.lit.

References

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External links

''Alt Lit Gossip''
Literary movements Internet culture Postmodern literature Mass media about Internet culture