You Make the Call...
Why is hypertext unique? Why will the truly hypertextual/multimedia novel
change the way we, as readers, think and react to a text? Because unlike
the traditional novel, unlike dreaming, unlike going to a movie, hypertext
will simultaneously re-create the reader's relationship to the text by empowering
him or her with crucial decision-making, and enhance the sense of entrancement
or absorption above and beyond the standard cinematic experience. The careful
integration of images, sound, and text (which is currently seen most obviously
in such projects as Freak Show and Myst) reinvents the reader's relationship
with the text, but without calling attention to the inherent artificiality
of the text.
Nell's list of other trance-inducing exercises is only a complete one if
one is to disregard hypertext. But once again, one must emphasize the fact
that only hypertext calls for an active participant, while the other experiences
rely on the passive nature of the reader/audience in order to create a trance-like
state.
