MD Coverley Joins WRT for a Spell
Published by Mark Marino February 4th, 2008 in hyperfic, Features, News.
Writer Response Theory is pleased to welcome a new visiting blogger: acclaimed elit author M.D. Coverley (aka Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink).
An accomplished hypermedia author, M.D. Coverley has been one of the most influential authors of digital narrative over the past decade. With numerous electronic works to her credit and as a member of the board of directors of the Electronic Literature Organization, Coverley has been a major voice in the development of electronic narrative and an advocate for many artists. This past August, she guest edited an issue of The Iowa Review Web with fellow epoetess Stephanie Strickland, featuring the works of Jason Nelson and Donna Leishman.
Perhaps, best known for her electronic novel, Califia, M.D. Coverley has been dedicated to the development of rich narratives with complex navigational structures. Her stories express her deep interests in mythologies and intersections of personal and communal histories.
Coverley began her electronic writing exploits in N. Katherine Hayles’ infamous National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers (1995): “Literature in Transition: The Impact of Information Technologies.” Given her extensive writing experiments prior to that session, however, perhaps it was not she who was introduced to elit, but elit that discovered its kindred spirit Since beginning a life in flickering letters, she has continued to innovate and promote the spread of electronic literature.
M.D. Coverley will be blogging at WRT starting this month and continuing at least till April. As her first regular blogging stint, this is a rare opportunity to see her in the blogosphere. We Really Thank her for joining us, and look forward to her contributions to the discussion at WRT!
Excuse the impertinence, but is there any relationship between M. D. Coverley and the esteemed Major — de Coverly of Catch-22 fame?
Dear Malcolm -
Well, now that you ask, yes indeed! My maiden name was Coverley. Marjorie Coverley. I had an uncle, Erskine Coverley, who was in WW II. He must have been somewhat notorious, as he gets mentioned in Ernie Pyle’s work and so forth. He was a Major. And he was in the Italian theatre (as was Heller) for a time.
Now, here is the other connection. In 18th Century English (Addison’s Spectator) lit there was a character called Sir Roger de Coverley. An English “reel” dance was also named the Sir Roger de Coverley.
de Coverley used to be a joke in our family - false pride and all - so loop-on-loop it just might be that Heller met my Uncle Erskine and they both laughed about de Coverley. . . . [Major de Coverley, by the way, is not a particuarly upright character - oh dear!]
Always, Margie M.D. Coverley
Dear All -
By the way - just a hello to all of you on the Writer Response Theory Blog!
I am very much looking forward to the next couple of months - and to getting to know you all and having some interesting chats about e-lit (and whatever else comes up!)
Always, Magie [M.D. Coverley]
You’ve only been here 1 day and you’ve already revealed major MDC mysteries. It shall be a wonderful blogging visit without a doubt! Welcome, MD!
Yes! Welcome M.D.Coverely! We’re thrilled you are here to be a fellow WRTer, and I very much look forward to reading your thoughts.
Dear Christy -
Ah, thoughts! I have been looking back at some of the ELO Collection pieces this week. Mark Marino, Stephanie Strickland, and I will be presenting at the & Now conference at Chapman University in April - and I thought it would be fun to introduce the ELC to the new-to-e-lit folks in the audience. In case any of you have missed this, here is the URL:
every time I browse around in there I am surprised at the variety!
always, Margie
It’s very very nice to see you at WRT dear Margie!
Andrzej