Behind the computer screens:The use of keystroke logging for genetic criticism applied to born-digital works of literature

The digital environment in which present-day literature is composed, significantly changes the materiality of the sources available for genetic criticism, since common word processors tend to hide the writing operations. This makes it a difficult endeavour to reconstruct the writing process, but does it herald the feared end of genetic criticism??Behind the computer screens argues that this will not be the case as long as genetic criticism adapts to working with digital files. As one of the ways in which genetic criticism can adapt to the Digital Age the study examines the use of one method in particular: keystroke logging. To explore the possibilities of keystroke logging, the study analyses literary writing processes logged with the keystroke logging software Inputlog.When examining all this keystroke logging data, the writing process can be studied at an unprecedented level of granularity, such as the sequentiality of text production and revision. The fine-grained data of keystroke logging therefore allows for a new type of what this study calls ‘nanogenetic’ research, including examining typing habits, the triggers of text production and revision, aspects of discovery in writing, and the transformation of sources during the writing process. The study also explores how genetic narratology may be enriched by keystroke logging data. It examines how and when details of aspects of the narrative text are integrated into the text and how they change during the writing process. When authors are willing to record their writing processes with a keystroke logging tool, the future of genetic criticism seems full of possibilities.<br/