Afternoon, a story
Encyclopedia
Afternoon, a story is a work of electronic literature
written in 1987 by American author Michael Joyce. It was published by Eastgate Systems
in 1990 and is known as the first hypertext fiction
.
Afternoon was first offered to the public as a demonstration of the hypertext authoring system Storyspace, announced in 1987 at the first Association for Computing Machinery
Hypertext conference in a paper by Michael Joyce and Jay David Bolter
. In 1990, it was published on diskette and distributed in the same form by Eastgate Systems. It was followed by a series of other Storyspace
hypertext fictions, including Stuart Moulthrop
's Victory Garden, Shelley Jackson
's Patchwork Girl
and Deena Larsen's Marble Springs.
devotes a chapter of his book Cybertext to Afternoon, calling it a classic example of modernist literature
. It is more often thought of as a work of Postmodern literature
, as evidenced by its inclusion in the Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Fiction. Chapters of Jay David Bolter
's Writing Space and J. Yellowlees Douglas's The End of Books or Books Without End also discuss Afternoon. Gunnar Liestøl's article "Wittgenstein, Genette, and the Reader's Narrative in Hypertext" in George Landow
's Hyper/Text/Theory (1994) uses the theory of narratology
to understand Afternoon, as does Jill Walker's "Piecing Together and Tearing Apart: Finding the Story in Afternoon" and Anna Gunders's dissertation work.
Electronic literature
Electronic literature is a literary genre consisting of works of literature that originate within digital environments.-Definitions:N. Katherine Hayles discusses the topic in the online article...
written in 1987 by American author Michael Joyce. It was published by Eastgate Systems
Eastgate Systems
Eastgate Systems is a publisher and software company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, which publishes hypertexts by established authors with careers in print as well as by talented new authors...
in 1990 and is known as the first hypertext fiction
Hypertext fiction
Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links which provides a new context for non-linearity in "literature" and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a...
.
Afternoon was first offered to the public as a demonstration of the hypertext authoring system Storyspace, announced in 1987 at the first Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
Hypertext conference in a paper by Michael Joyce and Jay David Bolter
Jay David Bolter
Jay David Bolter is the Wesley Chair of New Media and a professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Some of his main points of study include the evolution of media, the usage of technology in education, and the role of computers in the...
. In 1990, it was published on diskette and distributed in the same form by Eastgate Systems. It was followed by a series of other Storyspace
Storyspace
Storyspace was the first software program specifically developed for creating, editing, and reading hypertext fiction. It was developed in the 1980s by Jay David Bolter and Michael Joyce, who presented it to the first international meeting on Hypertext at Chapel Hill in October 1987...
hypertext fictions, including Stuart Moulthrop
Stuart Moulthrop
Stuart Moulthrop is an innovator of electronic literature and hypertext fiction, both as a theoretician and as a writer. He is author of the hypertext fiction works Victory Garden , which was on the front-page of the New York Times Book Review in 1993, Reagan Library , and Hegirascope , amongst...
's Victory Garden, Shelley Jackson
Shelley Jackson
Shelley Jackson is a writer and artist known for her cross-genre experiments, including her groundbreaking work of hyperfiction, Patchwork Girl...
's Patchwork Girl
Patchwork Girl (hypertext)
Patchwork Girl is a work of electronic literature by American author Shelley Jackson. It was written in Storyspace and published by Eastgate Systems in 1995...
and Deena Larsen's Marble Springs.
Plot and structure
The hypertext fiction tells the story of Peter, a recently divorced man who witnessed a car crash that may or may not have involved his ex-wife and their son.Criticism
This is one of the most-discussed works of electronic literature, and many articles have been written about it. Espen J. AarsethEspen J. Aarseth
-External links:*...
devotes a chapter of his book Cybertext to Afternoon, calling it a classic example of modernist literature
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
. It is more often thought of as a work of Postmodern literature
Postmodern literature
The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain characteristics of post–World War II literature and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, is hard to define and there is little agreement on the exact...
, as evidenced by its inclusion in the Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Fiction. Chapters of Jay David Bolter
Jay David Bolter
Jay David Bolter is the Wesley Chair of New Media and a professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Some of his main points of study include the evolution of media, the usage of technology in education, and the role of computers in the...
's Writing Space and J. Yellowlees Douglas's The End of Books or Books Without End also discuss Afternoon. Gunnar Liestøl's article "Wittgenstein, Genette, and the Reader's Narrative in Hypertext" in George Landow
George Landow (professor)
George Landow is Professor of English and Art History at Brown University. He is one of the leading authorities on Victorian literature, art, and culture, as well as a pioneer in criticism and theory of Electronic literature, hypertext and hypermedia...
's Hyper/Text/Theory (1994) uses the theory of narratology
Narratology
Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
to understand Afternoon, as does Jill Walker's "Piecing Together and Tearing Apart: Finding the Story in Afternoon" and Anna Gunders's dissertation work.
See also
- Electronic literatureElectronic literatureElectronic literature is a literary genre consisting of works of literature that originate within digital environments.-Definitions:N. Katherine Hayles discusses the topic in the online article...
- Electronic Literature OrganizationElectronic Literature OrganizationThe Electronic Literature Organisation is a nonprofit organization "established in 1999 to promote and facilitate the writing, publishing, and reading of electronic literature." -History:...
- Hypertext fictionHypertext fictionHypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links which provides a new context for non-linearity in "literature" and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a...
- Ergodic literatureErgodic literatureErgodic literature is a term coined by Espen J. Aarseth in his book Cybertext—Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, and is derived from the Greek words ergon, meaning "work", and hodos, meaning "path"...
- Eastgate SystemsEastgate SystemsEastgate Systems is a publisher and software company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, which publishes hypertexts by established authors with careers in print as well as by talented new authors...
- StoryspaceStoryspaceStoryspace was the first software program specifically developed for creating, editing, and reading hypertext fiction. It was developed in the 1980s by Jay David Bolter and Michael Joyce, who presented it to the first international meeting on Hypertext at Chapel Hill in October 1987...