Stuart Moulthrop
Encyclopedia
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 (1992), which was on the front-page of the New York Times Book Review in 1993, Reagan Library (1999), and Hegirascope (1995), amongst many others. Moulthrop is currently a Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of English, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also became a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization in 1999.
after reading Gravity's Rainbow
by Thomas Pynchon
in 1975. He received his PhD from Yale University
in 1986. He taught at Yale from 1984–1990, and then at the University of Texas at Austin
and the Georgia Institute of Technology
. In 1994 he moved back to Baltimore to teach at the University of Baltimore. As a former Professor of Information Arts and Technologies, he formerly taught in the Bachelor of Science in Simulation and Digital Entertainment. He also was involved in the Master's and Doctoral programs.
, and Hegirascope won the Eastgate Systems
HYSTRUCT Award. He served as co-editor for Postmodern Culture
and is currently listed as part of their editorial collective. He is partnered with Nancy Kaplan, Michael Joyce, and John McDaid in TINAC (Textuality, Intertextuality, Narrative, and Conscioussness). In 1987, Moulthrop created forking paths for an undergraduate writing class as a demonstration of hypertext, appropriating Borges'
"Garden of Forking Paths". This article acknowledges the possibility of having one source of data link to a group of data, which links to other group of data, and so forth until the viewer decides to exit the pool of information. The work is now available through The New Media Reader cd-rom. Currently, Moulthrop is working on Creatures and Creators, a hypermedia cross-edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
and James Whale's 1931 film
of the same title, and Chaos, a hypermedia fiction.
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...
and 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...
, both as a theoretician and as a writer. He is author of the hypertext fiction works Victory Garden (1992), which was on the front-page of the New York Times Book Review in 1993, Reagan Library (1999), and Hegirascope (1995), amongst many others. Moulthrop is currently a Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of English, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also became a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization in 1999.
Education
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, he became an English major at George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
after reading Gravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973.The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest...
by Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...
in 1975. He received his PhD from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1986. He taught at Yale from 1984–1990, and then at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
and the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
. In 1994 he moved back to Baltimore to teach at the University of Baltimore. As a former Professor of Information Arts and Technologies, he formerly taught in the Bachelor of Science in Simulation and Digital Entertainment. He also was involved in the Master's and Doctoral programs.
Work in hypertext
Moulthrop began experimenting with hypertext theory in the 1980s, and has since authored several articles as well as written many hypertext fiction works. He has had an article published in Wired magazine His hypertext Victory Garden was featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review from a review by Robert CooverRobert Coover
Robert Lowell Coover is an American author and professor in the Literary Arts program at Brown University. He is generally considered a writer of fabulation and metafiction.-Life and works:...
, and Hegirascope won the 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...
HYSTRUCT Award. He served as co-editor for Postmodern Culture
Postmodern Culture
Postmodern Culture is an electronic academic journal established in 1990. It is the result of an early experiment in electronic content delivery via the Internet. The journal publishes commentary and criticism on a wide range of concerns including literary theory, politics, and contemporary society...
and is currently listed as part of their editorial collective. He is partnered with Nancy Kaplan, Michael Joyce, and John McDaid in TINAC (Textuality, Intertextuality, Narrative, and Conscioussness). In 1987, Moulthrop created forking paths for an undergraduate writing class as a demonstration of hypertext, appropriating Borges'
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
"Garden of Forking Paths". This article acknowledges the possibility of having one source of data link to a group of data, which links to other group of data, and so forth until the viewer decides to exit the pool of information. The work is now available through The New Media Reader cd-rom. Currently, Moulthrop is working on Creatures and Creators, a hypermedia cross-edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
and James Whale's 1931 film
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
of the same title, and Chaos, a hypermedia fiction.
External links
- Stuart Moulthrop Home
- Early website of Stuart Moulthrop
- Interview with Stuart Moulthrop
- Postmodern Culture magazine
- "You Say You Want a Revolution?" Postmodern Culture, 1991