Abstract

This article explores the intermedial and gendered dimensions of Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This, situating the novel within the emergent genre of the “internet novel” and examining how its narrative form reflects and critiques the disjointed experience of digital media consumption. The novel’s intermedial form, which functions both as a stylistic choice and as a commentary on the affective experience of being online, reflects the hypertextual quality of digital interactions while also probing the complexities of mediated subjectivity. The article argues that Lockwood’s novel not only captures the disembodied, ironic texture of social media but also actively engages in a critical interrogation of how such a medium shapes the self, especially for women. The protagonist’s fragmented identity, formed through viral tweets and online interactions, highlights the pervasive influence of digital media in constructing contemporary subjectivity. As the novel progresses, it disrupts its initial ironic detachment by foregrounding the embodied, often painful realities of the protagonist’s life offline, particularly through her family’s personal crisis. This shift is read as a “glitch” in the text, revealing moments where the narrative breaks from its intermedial form and critiques the limitations of digital irony and disembodiment. Drawing on theories of digital media, feminist critique, and intermediality, the article ultimately reads the significantly intermedial texture of Lockwood’s novel as a model of hybridity that reflects on the nature of digital media in contemporary life, illustrating how narrative forms can both reflect and resist the gendered dimensions of power and disempowerment in the digital age.