The video Game press
Both Unknown Hypertext and The Jew’s Daughter are considered to be hypertext fiction which, according to Wikipedia, “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.”
1. Knowing this, do you feel you would have enjoyed these stories if they were in a regular, linear format or did this prove more enjoyable because you could choose (in Unknown’s case) where you wanted to go?
2. It is obvious how Unknown Hypertext can be interesting since each page can have so many different links but what about The Jew’s Daughter? You can’t really go anywhere except where it tells you to making it much more restrictive. What advantages, if any, could you see from creating hypertext fiction in this fashion other than confusing the hell out of the people who read it?
3. When I first looked at Unknown Hypertext, it reminded me how websites used to look back when the Internet was first being used. Simple layouts littered with hundreds of links to other places. What did this website remind you of?
4. Do you think that these websites might be the future of literature over the internet or do you think people will continue to prefer the linear form?
5. Why do you think someone would go through the trouble of creating a website like The Jew’s Daughter? What purpose do you think it serves?
BoomerspeakMarch 8, 2008 by boomerspeak
For students in Writing for Electronic Communities, the March 13 discussion questions regarding the Landow text are as follows:
1. Landow writes about the problem of disorientation in reading hypertext. He also says this is not necessarily a bad thing. Have you ever experienced “pleasurable” disorientation when reading a piece of literature, viewing a film, or looking at a piece of art?
2. Read the post in this blog entited A Nation of ADD. Do any of the links make you “confused and resentful” (154)? How does this relate to what Landow says makes for good hypertext?
3. How can writers of hypertext help with the less pleasant forms of disorientation (see pages 154-173)? Which would help you the most? Why?
4. How is hypertext narrative different than regular narrative? If you were to write the story of the Wizard of Oz in hypertext, how would you go about doing it?
5. Who do copyright laws need to protect in this electronic age: authors or readers?
