Generative literature

Generative literature
Generative literature
Features	Poetry and fiction generated automatically, usually using computers.
Related genres
	Electronic literature, Digital poetry, Generative art

Generative literature is poetry or fiction that is automatically generated, often using computers. It is a genre of electronic literature, and also related to generative art.

John Clark's Latin Verse Machine (1830–1843) is probably the first example of mechanised generative literature,^[1]^[2] while Christopher Strachey's love letter generator (1952) is the first digital example.^[3] With the large language models (LLMs) of the 2020s, generative literature is becoming increasingly common.

^ Sharples, Mike (2023-01-01). "John Clark's Latin Verse Machine: 19th Century Computational Creativity". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 45 (1): 31–42. arXiv:2301.05570. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2023.3241258. ISSN 1058-6180.
^ Hall, Jason David (2007-09-01). "Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 62 (2): 222–249. doi:10.1525/ncl.2007.62.2.222. ISSN 0891-9356.
^ Rettberg, Scott (2019). Electronic literature. Cambridge, UK Medford, MA: Polity press. ISBN 978-1-5095-1677-3.

[:0-1] Sharples, Mike (2023-01-01). "John Clark's Latin Verse Machine: 19th Century Computational Creativity". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 45 (1): 31–42. arXiv:2301.05570. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2023.3241258. ISSN 1058-6180.

[:1-2] Hall, Jason David (2007-09-01). "Popular Prosody: Spectacle and the Politics of Victorian Versification". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 62 (2): 222–249. doi:10.1525/ncl.2007.62.2.222. ISSN 0891-9356.

[:2-3] Rettberg, Scott (2019). Electronic literature. Cambridge, UK Medford, MA: Polity press. ISBN 978-1-5095-1677-3.

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