Dis/Trusting the Digital World in Imaginative Literature

Studies literature’s role in representing and addressing dis/trust in the digital world.

How has the advent of digital technology impacted social and institutional trust? And how can imaginative literature help us to answer this question? Impelled by this dual inquiry, Dis/Trusting the Digital World in Imaginative Literature addresses the intersections among digital studies, literary studies and studies of trust and distrust. Approaching the contemporary age through the longue durée of literary tradition, the volume is particularly concerned to identify the special affordances of literature for approaching problems of dis/trust in the digital world. Readers will be informed about topical subjects and urgent issues, including the impact of digital technologies on the (literary) public sphere, the status of the digital image and the threat of deepfakes, the emergence of cryptocurrencies and the digital economy, and the AI revolution. Each chapter approaches these topics and issues through the lens of literary texts while also considering how the ways we think about literature are changing in the digital age.