Anker Gemzøe
Aalborg University, Denmark
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Published in: NORLIT 2009
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 42:2, p. 15-29
Published: 2010-04-27
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
Merete Pryds Helle’s work Jeg tror; jeg elsker dig is allegedly the first Danish cell phone novel. It contains 27 text messages that were sent from November 16 to November 24; 2008 with 2;3 text messages a day to addressees/readers who enlisted. The price at punctual enlistment was 10 DKK. The love story told; rather a novella than a novel; enfolds alone via text messages; as the real encounter takes place before the first text message is sent. The dynamics of the plot is so conditioned by an active use of a new medium – and as a fictive exploration of that the work at hand can be characterized as experimental and some form of avant-garde. At the same time it signifies a – continuing and renewing – fusion of two older; genres that have played a great role in the development of fiction. This work is at once an epistolary novel à la Richardson or Laclos and a serial story à la Sue or Dumas. As is the case in these genres the rhythm of publication and the waiting time play a role for the readers’ experience. In terms of plot Jeg tror; jeg elsker dig likewise oscillates between the most elementary; age-old love intrigue and a number of hilarious; often grotesque markers of topicality.
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