The first thing I thought of when I read this short story was those Choose Your Own Adventure books with various hypotheticals and endings. And they are actually somewhat similar, though I suppose Choose Your Own Adventure is a much less sophisticated version of the hypertext novel. However, once I passed my childhood reminiscing, I initially had trouble connecting this story to the idea of the internet as a hypertext. It wasn’t until I read the introduction to Ted Nelson’s article, “A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate” that I begin to see what hypertext really is. The idea that a reader can jump from various locations and scenarios within a hypertext novel posits itself perfectly with the idea of the functions of the internet. Within an internet hypertext, one can move to various other areas, search for alternate definitions and realizations of any one topic or story, and that lends great power and creativity to the internet. And while one can view it as being free of time and place constraints, it also, most significantly, is free of author constraints. Because it can be viewed and edited by anyone, it is free from the constraints that having only a single author lend. The internet hypertext is free to jump around anywhere, and this lack of decisiveness and finality creates a type of ultimate, never-ending story.
One Comment
Interesting insights here. I’m never sure whether hypertext is nonlinear or labyrinthine. I guess I’d draw a subtle distinction between the latter–a maze is linear with many blind alleys–and the former, which I imagine more like a random walk. Although now that I think about it, even a random walk is linear, if only in hindsight. Tricky concepts to negotiate, mentally….