Cybertext

Abstract: Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Cybertext Theory Revisited Chapter 3: Cybertextuality and Transtextuality Chapter 4: The Textual Whole Chapter 5: Modes, Genres, Text Types and the Enigma of the Ergodic Chapter 6: Towards Cybertextual Narratology: The Amalgam of Narratologies Chapter 7: Interval 1: Towards an Expanded Narratology Chapter 8: Tense Chapter 9: Mood Chapter 10: Voice Chapter 11: Interval 2: Ergodic and Narrative Discourses Chapter 12: Ludology and the Exhaustion of Narratology Chapter 13: Game Ecology and the Classic Game Model Chapter 14: Game Ontology Chapter 15: The Gaming Situation Chapter 16: Game Time Chapter 17: Interval 3: Games as Configurative Practices: Models and Metaphors Chapter 18: Transmedial Modes and Ecologies Chapter 19: Ergodic Modes and Play Chapter 20: Textual Instruments and Instrumental Texts Bibliography Index.

Abstract: From the Publisher: Representative of the next generation of cybertext criticism, the essays in this book explore the concepts of texts and the forms of textuality emerging from the new electronic technologies. The first group examines contemporary literary theory and the texts of cyberspace. The second debates how identity is affected by the power of electronic technology to create virtual doubles of the body. The authors look at feminist and experimental writing, theatrical writing in virtual spaces, and rethinking the body in cyberspace. The final essays gather three "performance texts" that turn the critical investigation of cyberspace textuality into a quest for new forms of literary theoretical writing.

Abstract: This is an in-depth history and analysis of hyperlinked fiction. The marriage of narrative and the computer dates back to the 1980s, with the hypertext experiments of luminaries such as Judy Malloy and Michael Joyce. What has been variously called "hypertext fiction," "literary hypertext," and "hyperfiction" has surely surrendered any claim to newness in the 21st century. David Ciccoricco establishes the category of "network fiction" as distinguishable from other forms of hypertext and cybertext: network fictions are narrative texts in digitally networked environments that make use of hypertext technology in order to create emergent and recombinant narratives. Though they both pre-date and post-date the World Wide Web, they share an aesthetic drive that exploits the networking potential of digital composition and foregrounds notions of narrative recurrence and return. Ciccoricco analyzes innovative developments in network fiction from first-generation writers Michael Joyce ("Twilight, A Symphony", 1997) and Stuart Moulthrop ("Victory Garden", 1991) through Judd Morrissey's "The Jew's Daughter" (2000), an acclaimed example of digital literature on the Web. Each investigation demonstrates not only what the digital environment might mean for narrative theory but also the ability of network fictions to sustain a mode of reading that might be called "literary." The movement in the arts away from representation and toward simulation, away from the dynamics of reading and interpretation and toward the dynamics of interaction and play, has indeed led to exaggerated or alarmist claims of the endangerment of the literary arts. At the same time, some have simply doubted that the conceptual and discursive intricacy of print fiction can migrate to new media. Against these claims, "Reading Network Fiction" attests to the verbal complexity and conceptual depth of a body of writing created for the surface of the screen.

Abstract: Most studies of digital media focus on elements familiar from traditional media. For example, studies of digital literature generally focus on surface text and audience experience. Interaction is considered only from the audience's perspective. This study argues that such approaches fail to interpret the element that defines digital media-computational processes. An alternative is proposed here, focused on interpreting the internal operations of works. It is hoped that this will become a complement to (rather than replacement for) previous approaches. The examples considered include both processes developed as general practices and those of specific works. A detailed survey of story generation begins with James Meehan's Tale-Spin, interpreted through "possible worlds" theories of fiction (especially as employed by digital media theorists such as Marie-Laure Ryan). Previous interpretations missed important elements of Tale-Spin's fiction that are not visible in its output. Other story generation systems discussed include Minstrel, Universe, Brutus, and Terminal Time. These reveal the inevitably authored nature of simulations of human behavior. Further, the persistently anthropomorphizing approach to computational processes present in traditional artificial intelligence (and many critiques) is contrasted with authorship. Also discussed is Christopher Strachey's love letter generator for the Manchester Mark I---likely the first work of digital literature, and arguably the first digital art of any kind. As with Tale-Spin, an interpretation of its processes offers more than output-focused approaches. In addition, this study considers works with algorithmic processes carried out by authors and audiences (rather than within the works) created by Raymond Queneau, Tristan Tzara, and Claude Shannon. Prior theoretical concepts are engaged, including Espen Aarseth's "cybertext," Michael Mateas's "expressive AI," and Chris Crawford's "process intensity." A set of concepts and vocabulary are proposed, beginning with the simple distinction between "surface," "data," and "process." Further chapters introduce the terms "implemented processes," "abstract processes," and "works of process." The most unfamiliar new term, "operational logics," names behavioral elements of systems that can be as elemental as gravity or as high-level as a quest structure. The computer game Fable embodies the strengths and weaknesses of using the same logics to drive graphical and linguistic behavior.