Hypertext by Marie-Laure Ryan

The seventh chapter of Marie-Laure Ryan's book Narrative as Virtual Reality deals with selective interactivity, or the hypertexts to be more exact. A hypertextual system is composed of fragments of texts that are electronicly linked to each other. Each fragment contains multiple links to several other fragments that will be displayed if the reader chooses to click on the respective link.

     In the seventh chapter, Hypertext: The Functions and Effects of Selective Interactivity, Ryan Displays an x-ray image of the theories that circulate the academic field. She initially catalogues types of interactivity, lists the effects of such texts, offers a text typology with detailed explanations and finally names the properties of electronic medium and its relevance to hypertexts. It is conveyed that there are different interpretive scenarios for the readers as they deal with hypertexts; each casting a tailoring a different role for the reader. One might consider such a reading experience like navigating through the landscape of text; solving a puzzle by trying to put pieces together or like walking in a supermarket with a shopping cart and putting the desired fragments of text in the cart. She observes that while the there are different approaches to the mode of creating a story out of the aforementioned fragments of hypertexts, the central goal on the part of the reader is to overcome the fragmented structure and achieve a coherent story.

     Furthermore, Ryan defines terms such as 'reactive interaction', 'random selection', 'selective interactivity', 'hypertext' and 'ergodic literature' in order to support her cluster of categories for forms of literature. Similarly, she lists variations of interactivity, atractive aspects of interactivity to the consumer, elements of the electronic medium and conceptualisations of interactivity.

     In the part which she calls an interlude, Ryan focuses on the hypertext Twelve Blue by Michael Joyce in order to practice these theories as well as to convey her conclusions. Ryan Points out the inconsistent and uncertain aspect of hypertexts: the reader of a hypertext is left uncertain whether he has read the full text after he seemingly finished reading. Additionally, the Reader is alone in his reading experience as communicating the individual reading experience is complex and complicated. However, every hypertext has a fixed entry Point, although the course of the reading experience is an individual one.

S. Ketenci & S. Plum