Abstract

A question about the possibilities of internet literature, which has been sporadically raised since the 2000s, is seemingly now moving to an inquiry into the existential aspects of internet literature. However, it is difficult for discussions about internet literature to encompass the overall inquiry into narratives produced online. The concept of internet literature has limitations when it comes to shedding light on daily and confessional writing of various forms. Such writing, while distinguished from the old "literature", is not clearly aware of its own literary value. Thus, this study sets out to analyze the acceptance patterns of confessional online writing amongst its readers, as well as its narrative strategies which used to attract attention only for "fabrication" and was thus not included in the category of literary inquiry. For this purpose, the body of the research focused on popular postings on Nate Pann, one of the prominent communities where confessional writing about daily life happens intensively. Anonymous writers' confessional writing about daily life on Nate Pann is commonly called "Literary Contest in Pann Spring". The nickname was attributed to the suspicion that the anecdotes were fabricated to incite reader responses using provocative materials and development. As a result, the writers of "Literary Contest in Pann Spring" started using various methods to show their authenticity along with the authenticity of their narratives to demonstrate the validity of their stories. Despite these strategies, however, it can never be demonstrated to the end that each story depicts what actually happened due to the characteristics of anonymous writing. Nonetheless, it does not seem important whether the stories are completely true or not. Readers jump into debates about the topics of narratives even in the middle of rising suspicion for fabrication, which reveals that what is important is not in fact the truth but the entertainment, public rage kindled, or the space itself for discussion and denunciation created by the story. The writing style of "Literary Contest in Pann Spring" exists somewhere between essays and novels. Unlike offline discussions, whether stories are fabricated or not does not seem very important to their writers and readers alike. Readers consistently raise suspicion of fabrication, but they still show active responses by jumping into moral and ethical discussions based on the stories. In this sense, the "Literary Contest in Pann Spring" offers a bird's-eye view of various patterns of narratives being produced and consumed on the web and the users' contradictory desires for them.