(Re)Thinking Literary Interpretation in the Digital Age: AI, Virtual Reality, and Immersive Reading

The combination of Artificial Intelligence with Virtual Reality within literary studies is revolutionizing the methods of literary creation and analysis as well as the reader’s experience. Algorithmic writing through artificial intelligence undermines conventional authorship ideas by questioning the creative power and originality while introducing ethical dilemmas. VR narration transforms literature into interactive and audiovisual experiences which alter readers’ conventional ways of engagement. The ongoing transformations have prompted modern evaluations of literary theory along with criticism and teaching approaches in today’s digital age. The study integrates multiple theoretical and analytical methods through systematic literature review alongside conceptual critique and organized study cases. The research foundation combines post-humanist views established by Hayles (2005), media ecological insights from McLuhan (1964), and digital humanities discussions put forth by McCarty (2005). The research study employs computational analysis to examine AI-generated literary texts alongside AI-driven sentiment and motif analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway with a comparative study of reader engagement between VR-adapted literature and traditional written works. AI broadens the range of literary production yet lacks interpretative depth while missing purposeful direction and ideological consciousness. VR provides superior reader engagement compared to traditional methods yet it compromises analytical engagement, because it favors experiential understanding over textual analysis. Legal clarity surrounding AI-created literary works remains uncertain since recent copyright decisions from both the EU 2024 and USA 2023 rulings fail to recognize AI-generated literary texts as copyrightable works. Algorithmic biases in literary AI present ethical concerns, because these systems usually reproduce cultural and linguistic inequalities present in their data. AI and VR offer powerful means for literary analysis, but they need careful integration to support human interpretation rather than to replace it. Future research should focus on the AI-human cooperation, the cognitive impact of VR narration and legal framework for AI generated literature.