Purwokerto – The Sastra Inggris Study Programme, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Universitas Jenderal Soedirman (FIB UNSOED) organized a guest lecture titled “Literature Master Class” with the theme “The Choice’s Yours: Immersive Storytelling from Ergodic to Digital Literatures.” The event, which took place on Thursday, August 27, 2026, in the Aula Bambang Lelono FIB UNSOED, featured Prof. Dr. SF Luthfie Arguby Purnomo, S.S., M.Hum., an academic in the field of Sastra Inggris from the Faculty of Cultures and Languages, State Islamic University of Raden Mas Said Surakarta, as the keynote speaker.
This activity is part of the efforts by the Sastra Inggris Study Programme of FIB UNSOED to continuously develop students’ academic insights and expand the scope of literary studies in line with the latest developments in literary and cultural studies. The development of digital technology has brought changes not only to how literary works are produced and distributed, but also to how readers interact with texts and experience a story. Therefore, contemporary literary studies are also evolving beyond conventional forms toward various interactive, multimodal, and digital narrative forms.
Through the material “The Choice’s Yours: Immersive Storytelling from Ergodic to Digital Literatures,” Prof. Luthfie invited participants to explore the connection between ergodic literature, digital literature, and immersive storytelling. The discussion then expanded to various forms of storytelling that allow readers or users to have a more active involvement in building the narrative experience. Several concepts such as second-person point of view, multilinearity or branching narratives, single and multiple endings, as well as methexis became part of the material that opened up students’ understanding of the changing relationship between text, story, and reader in contemporary narrative forms.
Interestingly, participants were not only invited to understand concepts theoretically, but also to question the boundaries of literature amidst the development of digital media. Through examples such as interactive books, visual novels, open-world games, social media, to Webtoon, students were encouraged to see new possibilities regarding how narratives are constructed, how audiences participate, and how a work can be read as an object of literary study. In the final section, participants were even invited to reflect on a critical question: “Can any digital contents be called digital literature?”
This Literature Master Class activity also demonstrates the commitment of the Sastra Inggris Study Programme of FIB UNSOED to providing a learning process that is responsive to scientific developments and digital transformation. Literary studies do not only provide an understanding of works in conventional forms, but also continue to evolve to read narrative phenomena born from technology, new media, and digital culture.
Through this guest lecture, students are expected to increasingly understand that Sastra Inggris is a dynamic academic field that continuously interacts with the changing times. The introduction to ergodic literature, immersive storytelling, and digital literature is also expected to open up new perspectives for students in determining objects of study, developing analysis, and finding potential research topics relevant to the development of contemporary literature.
By organizing this kind of academic activity, the Sastra Inggris Study Programme of FIB UNSOED continues its efforts to bridge the academic foundation of literature with the latest trends and developments in literary studies, while equipping students with a broader perspective in understanding the transformation of texts, narratives, readers, and media in the digital era.