Abstract
/ This article addresses the speculative role of digital preservation from the standpoint of convergent literatures. `Cross-sited narratives', multimodal stories told across media channels, are introduced here as a specific mode of narrative instrumentality. It is argued that contemporary models of the archive structured on organizational models such as genetic criticism and on preservational models such as emulation and migration are not equipped to handle cross-sited works, as they are premised on mono-media sensibilities. Primarily exploring Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves (2000) and Neil Young's Greendale (2003), two works that resist digitization both materially and thematically, the claim is made that although there are no functional models that might accommodate either of these productions, by speculating about their future we not only can obtain a better understanding of the implicit assumptions of digital preservation, but also of cross-siting itself.
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