ABSTRACT Scrolling through Tumblr.com, new users might be surprised to find snippets of classic literature interspersed between GIFs of their favorite shows and silly memes. This article explores the dynamics of this literary circulation, suggesting that attention to this distinctive style of reception reveals a new mode of reading. Instead of reading texts in a traditional manner, Tumblr users engage with de- and recontextualized excerpts we term literary scrap. The authors focus on a single excerpt from Anne Carson’s An Oresteia with over 180,000 “notes.” Tumblr users isolate the passage to engage with it affectively, contrary to familiar and accepted modes of close reading. This practice transforms literary consumption into a participatory activity, much like the blogs’ material analogue: the scrapbook. They argue that recognizing this playful form of reception, which embraces an embodied reading practice, reveals how reading functions alongside the digital sphere.
Golick et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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