Jackson/Hypertext Blog

Hypertext uses a different way of presenting a narrative than we are all used to. In hypertext, instead of reading the narrative in the exact order that the author or the editor constructed it, people who read hypertext can ‘follow their own path” or create their own sort of order to get meaning out of the narrative. In the words of Steve Ersinghaus “Navigating a nonlinear narrative such as hypertext, demonstrates how electronic literature challenges expectations associated with and codified around print based reading practices.” Hypertexts are more thought of as being networks rather than a linear plot. In other words, “Hypertext changes our interaction with both the story at hand and also with the concept of narrative itself.”(Ersinghaus p.1)

The piece of hypertext fiction we were introduced to in the class was Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl. I found this to be a very interesting piece of hypertext fiction. The whole weirdness of the narrative was quite captivating and really catches the reader’s attention. Shelly Jackson is the author of Patchwork Girl but is not the only creator of the piece.  This narrative actually contains 5 creators. The first is obviously Shelly Jackson, and the other four are patchwork girl herself, Mary Shelly, the sources of patchwork girls’ body parts and the reader. The choices that you click, and how you interpret it makes the story become a whole. The Base of patchwork girl is all about creation. Even piecing together the hypertext gives you this sense of creating something. Throughout the story you hear about sowing different body parts together to bring this monster together and bring it to life.

Patchwork Girl expresses the narrative by showing illustrations and pictures of women’s body parts that are stitched together through the hypertext and the images in the narrative. There are five different sections in the narrative. They are titled as follows “a Graveyard, a quilt, a story, and broken accents.” Each segment takes the story into different directions through different links and different images. In the story, the female monster is created by Mary Shelley. The narrative explains the different adventures the monster went on in America after she dies after a 175 year life span. The different sections in the narrative give you insight on the different lives of the women that contributed to the body parts of Mary Shelly’s monster. Patchwork girl is composed of different people and each lexia is like a scrap of fabric. You have to piece the work together to get a meaning out of the story. This is what makes you get so intrigued and caught up in the narrative Patchwork Girl.

Another piece of Hypertext that we analyzed as a class included the narrative “my body-- a wundermaker”. This piece was written by Shelley Jackson as well. I found this piece to have many similarities to Jackson’s Patchwork Girl. As you click on the different body parts you are linked to different stories and how they interact with the different body parts of the girl. Just like in Patchwork Girl, the girl in this narrative was very intrigued by her body and how it was different from everybody else’s bodies.

Both patchwork girl and the girl from a—wundermaker, have sort of a love/ hate relationship when it comes to their bodies. In a- wundermaker there is a greater emphasis on her childhood making it easier for us to relate to the story and gets the reader more invested. In both Patchwork Girl and a- wundermaker their bodies are being viewed as being monstrous.  

In Patchwork Girl, patchwork girl herself goes on to explain how she is tall and broad shouldered enough to be a man. With her large adams apple people view her as being a transsexual. This is another example of how there is a sort of feminist perspective on the narrative.

Both narratives have different varieties of routes through their work as well making the story jump from one point to the next forcing you to have to piece everything together to make the story make sense. In form a- wundermaker, and in patchwork girl they have multiple pages with multiple links to make a web of possibilities. There is a thematic connection for all lexia as well. This gives you different perspectives with different aspects of the story.

Some basic characteristics of the two hypertexts Patchwork Girl, and a- wundermaker include the following: Both stories link to multiple pages which lead to several paths that have numerous links on a page, and both of the narratives have thematic connection for the lexia giving us different perspectives and different aspects of the story. All of this together gives us a web of possibilities to explore in the narrative.

I have not gotten very far in writing my own hypertext fiction, but as far as I have gotten I found it to be very difficult. Working on your own personal hypertext gives you a new found respect for authors like Shelley Jackson and really makes you admire the creativeness authors like her have. To write hypertext you really have to have a sense of imagination to be able to write your piece and have it all tie together to come up with some sort of narrative that makes sense. It is very easy to get confused with all the different links you have to make and can really disrupt your main ideas in the narrative you are trying to create.

Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1995. CD-Rom

Ersinghaus, Steve.Reading Hypertext: Reading Blue Hyacinth