English 651: Writing Hypertext
Michael Keller's Reading List

(Please note that I had a couple mistakes in my citation that have now been corrected.  So if you looked to mine a model, be sure to double check yours against the MLA guidelines.)

253

Ryman, Geoff. 253: a novel for the Internet about London Underground
in seven cars and a crash. 14 Sept. 1998  <http://www.ryman-novel.com/home.htm> .

252 passengers and a driver on a doomed subway ride.  Each text describing the characters is exactly 253 words long.  Each character is described in terms of outward appearance, inside information, and what they are doing or thinking.  Ryman tells us that he set this "novel for the Internet"  on the day he learned his best friend was dying of AIDS.

Well designed, the "Journey Planner" provide a reader's topography to the cars and the journey.  Each car also has its own map, depicting who is in a given car and where each is sitting; graphic/textual headers and footer links on each page keep the reader oriented to where she is in the text.  One may choose to read in a linear or hypertextual fashion, following the order of the characters, beginning with the driver, and moving character by character, or one may follow the hypertextual links which connect characters to one another.  Unlike some hypertexts, the introduction suggests this one comes to an a conclusive end, a subway crash.  "Thrill seekers" are urged by Ryman to click to the end of the novel.

So far, I find myself interested in the effect of the montage.  I am reading now hypertextually, exploring relationships between characters, but I may start again and try reading characters in the order of presentation.  I also find the form satisfying; it is always interesting to see how a writer works within the constraints of form, whether a traditional or nonce form.  This is a very different reading experience from Joyce's Afternoon, in which the reader's topography is not mapped out.

Of additional interest, Wendy Grossman of Salon magazine writes in a review of 253.

In possibly the first-ever Web-site-to-book deal, HarperCollins has signed to release the site[253] as a printed book (Ryman calls it a "print remix") in February 1998 -- perhaps with the original electronic version bundled on disk.

As I can so often say as I read new hypertexts, I have not encountered anything quite like this before.  Given my exploratory reading, I think it ambitious and engaging.
(reviewed 9/15/98 mak)

temp link 9-16-98 Notes