06 Readings – Landow

The Landow reading explores the presence of hypertext fiction, which I find interesting (mainly because I’ve never heard of it before). Apparently it exists though, and what’s more, there’s a few different types – Landow points out that different authors utilize it to showcase “essentially one main narrative”, while others incorporate a “cluster of entirely separate stories” and there are those who weave together “nonfiction materials with the narrative”.

Based on what little I can gleam from the reading (I’ve never come across a hypertext narrative myself), it seems as if there are a few benefits from using this structure. For one, readers have a choice in how they consume the narrative, which is an intriguing concept, given I’m used to the simple turn-the-pages-and-read-what-I-tell-you approach. There’s also the fact that linking in images and context when reading a narrative could provide a richer experience. If you were reading a science fiction or high fantasy narrative, for instance, having links that led to background information or the history of the fictional world could provide a more in-depth experience.

Landow claims that hypertext “challenges narrative and all literary form based on linearity”. It certainly does. We’ve been consuming narratives for more and less the same way for hundreds of years – hypertext fiction represents a thorough shaking up of the formula.