The Evolution of Virtual Identity in American Literature. From the Telegraph to the Internet

What is the origin of virtual identity? Can we trace its evolution in American literature? This book seeks to respond to these inquiries by exploring those narratives that between the end of the 19th century and the present have illustrated redefinitions of American identity through the virtual context engendered by the development of telecommunications. The study opens with an overview of the relationship between the real and virtual self in modern thought and then focuses on the relevance of identity in American culture. Sweeping in its scope, the book proceeds to explore the origin of virtual identity through the telegraph, following its evolution with the telephone and ultimately delving into the digital age to shed light on the computer, the Internet, and virtual reality. In this way, the second section of the volume moves on to tackle the process of exchange between personal construction and narrative technological development. As such, the texts examined are Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes (1879) by Ella Cheever-Thayer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) by Mark Twain, The Broom of the System (1987) by David Foster Wallace, Chronic City (2009) by Jonathan Lethem, and A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) by Jennifer Egan. Opening new vistas on the narratives, the book shows how American literature has traced the profile of a new, essentially virtual, identity defined by the intersection between real and artificial and by performance as a means to represent the self.