Daniel Spargo "Bring it to the Table" Week 1

     "Electronic literature tests the boundaries of the literary and challenges us to re-think our assumptions of what literature can do and be," (Hayles). N. Katherine Hayles' work titled "Electronic Literature: What is it?" provided many concepts of what electronic literature can be in an ever evolving landscape. The aforementioned quote sums up what I loved about her writing and analysis. Electronic literature is constantly pushing the limit of what we know of the medium. In just a period of a few years, it can completely morph into a new and exciting genre that we have not yet seen. Even individual works are given the chance to constantly evolve before our eyes, becoming things that they were not just a day before. There are many genres of electronic literature, and tomorrow there will be more. The internet age has created an unfathomable variety of possibilities for a story to be expressed. Hayles does well to explore the many genres of electronic literature, as well as how they can be changed and how they can differentiate themselves from print. 

    I chose to look at "Twelve Blue", a hypertext story by Michael Joyce published in 1996. Before I dive into the product, I will confess I have not been able to understand how the story is supposed to come together, as it almost seems like a puzzle. The work consists of a series of vaguely titled hyperlinks that take you to different small excerpts. Each excerpt progresses with more links, however they do not seem to come together in a linear way. There is also an image, just a black box with different colored lines throughout. Each line is also a hyperlink, bringing readers to another series of excerpts. I presume that the way the lines intersect has something to do with the direction of the story as a whole, but I cannot seem to pin it down. Each excerpt seems to reference a girl, whether it is the same girl or not is unclear to me. the story is an older example of electronic literature, but it is engaging all the same. It is wonderfully simplistic yet confusing and intricately woven at the same time.