Patchwork Girl: A Hypertextual CD ROM
The works of William Blake have been established as literature
for quite some time, and have been transferred to an electronic medium. More
specifically, the original works were not influenced in any way by an electronic
medium, which probably couldn’t even have been imagined in Blake’s
time. What about the literature that has been born into a world with these
technological capabilities? Here the possibilities diversify. One alternative
was exercised by Shelley
Jackson in the mid 1990’s, in her hyper-text CD ROM, Patchwork
Girl. With this text, she maintained some traditional aspects of literature,
while expanding the possibilities of storytelling and causing readers to rethink
their role in creating literature. Patchwork Girl is accessible only
by purchasing the disc, in the same way that one would purchase a novel. The
disc is distributed by a publishing company that strictly prohibits sharing
or copying the materials, and that puts a price on the disc that is higher
than a typical book. Only the owner of the disc can view it, and then only
on a computer with a CD ROM drive. Though this may seem elitist, the circumstances
are not all that different from an experience with a traditional book. The
appearance of the material of the disc is also similar to traditional print,
even while being viewed in a different medium. Text appears in black print,
on white screens, and the few illustrations are also in black and white.
The real differences between Patchwork Girl and traditional printed texts lie in the experience the reader has with the text. With this new medium and the use of hypertext, the reader plays an active role in shaping the narrative. While the writer is freed from the linear nature of traditional storytelling—creating a beginning, middle and end—so the reader is liberated from following the linear path set forth by the writer. The shape of this narrative is anything but a straight line. The reader can create a web with the links, “patching” together the story in different shapes each time. Though the reader does not experience complete agency (the writer, after all, did construct the links and possible paths for the reader to choose), s/he does embark upon a new experiment—creating and recreating the reading experience with every viewing of the disc. A hypertext CD ROM project such as Patchwork Girl allows us to think in new ways about the roles of readers and writers in literature.