Sons of instagram. Publishing marketing. Poetry and the construction of new readers in the digital era

Abstract

With the so called 2.0 society’s incorporation of new technologies, a new mode of reader is being constructed by the digital era and its social networks which defies the traditional model of the reader/writer. This article deals with the precise way in which the widespread use of social networks (namely Twitter and Instagram) for promotional and divulgation purposes has affected the discourse of this new type of literature, constructed by young people for (essentially) young people. It will also take a look at the way in which publishing marketing has managed to provide a profitable space for that which until now was considered to be poetry for the young Millennial Generation (i.e. those born from 1982 onwards) only, despite both the criticism directed towards it and the predictable evolution of the established literary canon. This generation of readers/writers are relentless followers of a specific type of author whose works have been given all prominence in bookshops and literary supplements but do not comply to the norms of tradition nor the previsions of scholarly critics of the genre who are at odds with this phenomenon, resulting in a polemic about what is and what is not poetry in the 21st century.

Keywords

• generación millennial, poesía joven
• redes sociales
• discurso literario
• siglo xxi