"No more than a heap of letters": The Cognitive Mapping of Hypertext Literature

Authors

Molly M. McLay '06, Illinois Wesleyan University

Abstract

If you have ever wanted to cut up a narrative and patch it back together in a new order; if you have ever thought about the implications of singular linearity on literature and the thought process; or if you have ever wondered if the mind might favor a more associative, linkage based form of reading literature, then you may know of hypertext. Through a discussion of criticism ranging from post-structuralism to constructivism, I will argue that hypertext literature, specifically Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story and Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl, maps narratives like those the mind creates when forming and reading the text of one's reality and memory.2

Recommended Citation

McLay '06, Molly M. (2006) ""No more than a heap of letters": The Cognitive Mapping of Hypertext Literature," The Delta: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/delta/vol1/iss1/8