Back in 1996, when I was twelve, my family got our first dial-up service. The Internet was just a novelty back then, something we could switch off and ignore as we went about our daily lives. Fast forward twenty-three years, and the digital revolution has so profoundly impacted our thinking that discussing this impact has almost become cliché. We now take the Internet for granted and strive to understand its practical implications.
In The Internet is for real, Chris Campanioni joins other writers exploring this digital realm. For instance, Oscar Schwartz from Australia wrote The Honeymoon Stage to his online friends over five years. Meanwhile, poet Sam Riviere’s Kim Kardashian’s Marriage is steeped in online culture, with seventy-two poems matching the duration of Kardashian’s marriage to Kris Humphries. Olivia Sudjic’s “Instagram novel” Sympathy and Joshua Cohen’s Book of Numbers add to this tapestry. Campanioni’s book delves into topics like the refugee crisis, capitalism, privilege, and pornography, reflecting on our digital collective unconscious.
Campanioni’s The Internet is for real is a unique blend of memoir, poetry, essay, and scholarly analysis. In its extensive five-hundred pages, the book touches on transculturality, dreams, and the impact of the Internet on our lives. It stands at the crossroads of different styles and genres, engaging with tradition while embracing modernity. Campanioni’s work exemplifies “destructive genesis,” responding to existing texts while forging new literary paths.
Several prose poems in The Internet is for real pay homage to the modernist Cuban novel Tres tristes tigres by Guillermo Cabrera Infante. Moreover, Campanioni’s work shows influences from the Oulipo, a group known for using constrained writing techniques in their works. For instance, his “Erasures” series reinterprets pop songs by redacting lyrics, revealing hidden poems. Through his writing, Campanioni explores themes of identity, migration, and personal narratives.
The book also features poignant memoir snippets about Campanioni’s elderly dogs, reflecting on life and mortality. Campanioni blurs the lines between reality and fiction, questioning the curated identities we present online. His writing delves into the essence of reality and self-expression in the digital age.
Through his exploration of art, reality, and identity, Campanioni’s work provokes contemplation on our modern existence. His writing carries a moral undertone, emphasizing empathy and self-awareness. As we navigate the complexities of the Internet age, Campanioni’s words offer humor, depth, and compassion, prompting us to contemplate the nature of our digital selves.
