Chapter 3

Chapter 3 follows the same outline as chapter 2, except instead of combinatory poetics, it talks about hypertext. Rettberg talks about the early influences on hypertext work from before digital literature. Like the dada movement inspired combinatory poetics, Modernist work has been considered the first influence for hypertext work. This is because of the frequent referencing to other works within a modernist work. Modernist work is primarily from the early 1900’s until about World War 2. The next influence talked about is Postmodernism. I think Postmodernism influence hypertext much more than Modernist work. Postmodern works are much more experimental and wonky. Originating after WW2, post modern work provides parodies of other works as well as lots of self-deprecating humor. The last unique thing about Post-modern literature is the way it plays with structure to tell more of the story. Hypertext seems to draw most from Postmodern works because it tends to be very creative and experimental. Lots of hypertexts have interesting structures with clever interactions to tell a story in a totally new and unique way. I like Rettberg’s definition of hypertext as a sort of “text technology” as it seems broader when juxtaposed to a digital essay or something. Hypertext peaked around 95-04 and has definitely been a huge influence to other digital mediums.

               I looked into “Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse” because of the intriguing name. At first it seemed really cool with the little song in the beginning and the mini games you could choose from. It is set up as an od mac desktop emulator, It feels really retro and kind of like an awesome little game. I clicked on the hyperglobe game and ended up getting stuck on that one game. In order to re-enter the work, the site wanted me to redownload the software. In order to not have duplicate files, I stopped there.