The Creep’s Dilemma: The Novel in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Document Type

Journal Article

Role

Author

Published In

PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Volume

140

Issue

5

First Page

802

Last Page

816

Publication Date

2-17-2026

Abstract

This essay examines novels by Tao Lin and Caroline Kepnes alongside data companies’ managerial literature to account for the relation between consumer surveillance and contemporary fiction. First, it identifies the creep as a character type who appears in novels about digital life. Second, it shows that the creep, usually in the guise of an online stalker, shares a key concern with the platforms that structure the commercial space of the Internet: both must conceal the extent of their surveillance for fear of scaring away their object or customer. This essay draws out the literary genealogy of the creep by revisiting canonical theories of the novel and disciplinary surveillance.

Keywords

Literature, novels, character types, digital life, Internet


Find in Tripod

Share

COinS