Hypertext fiction
Encyclopedia
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 story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction
.
The term can also be used to describe traditionally-published books in which a nonlinear narrative and interactive narrative is achieved through internal references. James Joyce's Ulysses
(1922), Enrique Jardiel Poncela
's La Tournée de Dios (1932), Vladimir Nabokov
's Pale Fire
(1962) and Julio Cortázar
's Rayuela
(1963; translated as Hopscotch) are early examples predating the word "hypertext", while a common pop-culture example is the Choose Your Own Adventure
series in young adult fiction and other similar gamebook
s.
, using software such as Storyspace
and HyperCard
. Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a story
, first presented in 1987 and published by Eastgate Systems
in 1991, is generally considered one of the first hypertext fictions. Afternoon was followed by a series of other Storyspace hypertext fictions from Eastgate Systems
, including Stuart Moulthrop
's Victory Garden, its name was Penelope by Judy Malloy
, (whose hyperfiction Uncle Roger was published online on Artcom Electronic Network on The WELL
from 1986 to 1987) Carolyn Guyer's Quibbling, Shelley Jackson
's Patchwork Girl
and Deena Larsen
's Marble Springs. Judy Malloy's l0ve0ne, created in 1994, was the first selection in the Eastgate Web Workshop.
Douglas Cooper's Delirium (1994) was the first novel serialized on the World Wide Web
; it permitted navigation between four parallel story strands. On June 21, 1996, Bobby Rabyd (aka Robert Arellano) published the World Wide Web
's first interactive novel, Sunshine 69, with navigable maps of settings, a nonlinear calendar of scenes, and a character "suitcase" enabling readers to try on nine different points of view. Shortly thereafter, in 1997, Mark Amerika
released GRAMMATRON, a multi-linear work which was eventually exhibited in art galleries. In 2000, it was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art.
Some other web examples of hypertext fiction include Adrienne Eisen's Six Sex Scenes (1995),
Stuart Moulthrop's Hegirascope (1995,1997), The Unknown (which won the trAce(Alt X award in 1998), The Company Therapist, and Caitlin Fisher's These Waves of Girls (2001) (which won the ELO award for fiction in 2001).
The internationally oriented but US based Electronic Literature Organization
(ELO) was founded in 1999 to promote the creation and enjoyment of electronic literature. Other organisations for the promotion of electronic literature include trAce Online Writing Community, a British organisation, started in 1995, that has fostered electronic literature in the UK, Dichtung Digital, a journal of criticism of electronic literature in English and German, and ELINOR, a network for electronic literature in the Nordic countries, which provides a directory of Nordic electronic literature. The Electronic Literature Directory lists many works of electronic literature in English and other languages.
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...
, characterized by the use of hypertext
Hypertext
Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
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 story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
.
The term can also be used to describe traditionally-published books in which a nonlinear narrative and interactive narrative is achieved through internal references. James Joyce's Ulysses
Ulysses
Ulysses is derived from Ulixes, the Latin name for Odysseus, a character in ancient Greek literature. For more on the name Ulysses, see Ulysses .Ulysses may also refer to:- Literature and film :...
(1922), Enrique Jardiel Poncela
Enrique Jardiel Poncela
Enrique Jardiel Poncela was a Spanish playwright and novelist who wrote mostly humorous works....
's La Tournée de Dios (1932), Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
's Pale Fire
Pale Fire
Pale Fire is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional John Shade, with a foreword and lengthy commentary by a neighbor and academic colleague of the poet. Together these elements form a narrative in which both authors are...
(1962) and Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
's Rayuela
Rayuela
Hopscotch is a novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. Written in Paris and published in Spanish in 1963 and in English in 1966, the English translation by Gregory Rabassa won the 1967 U.S. National Book Award. Hopscotch is an introspective stream-of-consciousness novel where characters...
(1963; translated as Hopscotch) are early examples predating the word "hypertext", while a common pop-culture example is the Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
series in young adult fiction and other similar gamebook
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s.
History
The first hypertext fictions were published prior to the development of the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, using software such as 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...
and HyperCard
HyperCard
HyperCard is an application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer, Inc. that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard also features HyperTalk, written...
. Michael Joyce's Afternoon, a story
Afternoon, a story
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....
, first presented in 1987 and 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 1991, is generally considered one of the first hypertext fictions. Afternoon was followed by a series of other Storyspace hypertext fictions from 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...
, 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, its name was Penelope by Judy Malloy
Judy Malloy
Judy Malloy is a poet whose works embrace the intersection of hypernarrative, magic realism, and information art. Beginning with Uncle Roger in 1986, Malloy has composed works in both new media literature and hypertext fiction...
, (whose hyperfiction Uncle Roger was published online on Artcom Electronic Network on The WELL
The Well
- Titled works :* The Well , 1986 novel by Elizabeth JolleyMusical albums:* The Well , by Waking Ashland* The Well, 2001, by Jennifer Warnes* The Well, a song from the "Come to the Well" album by christian group Casting Crowns...
from 1986 to 1987) Carolyn Guyer's Quibbling, 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
Deena Larsen
Deena Larsen is a new media, hypertext author, known for ground-breaking work in creating structural patterns in hypermedia literature. Larsen has been working with electronic literature since the 1980s and is considered one of the pioneer artists in the field...
's Marble Springs. Judy Malloy's l0ve0ne, created in 1994, was the first selection in the Eastgate Web Workshop.
Douglas Cooper's Delirium (1994) was the first novel serialized on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
; it permitted navigation between four parallel story strands. On June 21, 1996, Bobby Rabyd (aka Robert Arellano) published the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
's first interactive novel, Sunshine 69, with navigable maps of settings, a nonlinear calendar of scenes, and a character "suitcase" enabling readers to try on nine different points of view. Shortly thereafter, in 1997, Mark Amerika
Mark Amerika
Mark Amerika is an American artist and author.- Career :Amerika received his MFA from Brown University. After publishing two cult-novels, and , he turned his energy towards net art. His goal is to expand the concept of writing so that it includes writing in and with new media technologies. He...
released GRAMMATRON, a multi-linear work which was eventually exhibited in art galleries. In 2000, it was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art.
Some other web examples of hypertext fiction include Adrienne Eisen's Six Sex Scenes (1995),
Stuart Moulthrop's Hegirascope (1995,1997), The Unknown (which won the trAce(Alt X award in 1998), The Company Therapist, and Caitlin Fisher's These Waves of Girls (2001) (which won the ELO award for fiction in 2001).
The internationally oriented but US based Electronic Literature Organization
Electronic Literature Organization
The Electronic Literature Organisation is a nonprofit organization "established in 1999 to promote and facilitate the writing, publishing, and reading of electronic literature." -History:...
(ELO) was founded in 1999 to promote the creation and enjoyment of electronic literature. Other organisations for the promotion of electronic literature include trAce Online Writing Community, a British organisation, started in 1995, that has fostered electronic literature in the UK, Dichtung Digital, a journal of criticism of electronic literature in English and German, and ELINOR, a network for electronic literature in the Nordic countries, which provides a directory of Nordic electronic literature. The Electronic Literature Directory lists many works of electronic literature in English and other languages.
External links
- 253 by Geoff Ryman
- Revelations of Secret Surveillance by Judy Malloy
- "8 minutes" by Martha Conway
- Hypertexts and Interactive Narratives at Cyberculture Studies
- (FILE) — Electronic Language International Festival.Festival of new media artNew media artNew media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
. - Starry Pipe Book
- Adrienne Eisen
- "ebbflux: machine text" by gmb (2000)
- Online Caroline
- RYOH — Roll Your Own Hypertext.
- The Shaping of Hypertextual Narrative (by Sergio Cicconi)
- Electronic Literature Organization (for more on hypertext literature)
- Dichtung Digital. Journal for Digital Aesthetics. (Texts in English and German). Editor Roberto Simanowski.
- Eastgate catalog (catalog of historically significant Hypertext fiction, nonfiction and poetry)