“Out with the old and in with the new” seems to be the expression we follow concerning technology. The newest technology makes our lives easier and slowly outdates the old ways of doing things. Shelly Jackson uses the modern medium of hypertext to recreate Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein into her own version, Patchwork Girl. Although most would think Patchwork Girl is a more pleasing medium, for its technology is far more advanced than that of a book, this modern medium’s complexity, inelasticity, and unfamiliar structure actually makes a book seem much more appealing to a reader.
Patchwork Girl, like any hypertext, is dependent upon computers; without one it is simply just a piece of plastic. In the short run, this dependency binds the reader to the limitations of a computer, for the hypertext is programmed on a CD ROM. In the long run, Patchwork Girl’s reliance on computers could lead to its extinction. Technology is constantly changing – floppy disks evolved into to flash drives, tape cassettes evolved into to CD ROM’s, huge desk tops evolved into small laptops. In a hundred years from now, the technology today could be non-existent, and if that is true so will Patchwork Girl. Books on the other hand, have been around for over two thousand years and do not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. They have endured time, unlike other mediums and have remained unaffected by our fast changing world.
A simple task such as opening a book could be under appreciated until one is introduced to Jackson’s hypertext, Patchwork Girl. The modern medium of a hypertext turns the painless task of opening a book into a complex process that stalls the reader from jumping right in to the story. The process of starting a computer and then inserting the disk is far less convenient than just grabbing and opening a book. It also can be fairly tricky for those who are unfamiliar with computers, and that characteristic alone could push potential readers away. In our world today, time is far more valuable than any currency we have, and the more time efficient an activity, the appealing it is to us.
The dictionary defines a “novel” as a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes. The definition of a novel itself is one of the strongest arguments pertaining to Patchwork Girl’s failure as a novel. People today have become accustomed to the traditional linear format of a book, where there is a beginning, middle, and an end. When that format is changed into that of a hypertext, even someone who falls at the highest levels of reading and writing, will feel lost in what they are reading. Birkerts (an author who’s life revolves around both reading and writing) explains his first encounter with hypertext in his book, The Gutenberg Elegies. He describes the structure as a “map of an elaborate garden” with” maze-like paths benches and nooks,”(Birkerts 151). He felt paralyzed in confusion from this unfamiliar format of a hypertext. Patchwork Girl is structured in a way that most readers are not used to-there is neither a beginning nor an end. It is structured similarly to a web site database, where the sections are not based on sequence but on relativity.
The structure of hypertext fails to grab the reader’s attention. The fact that there is no specific order in which the reader has to read makes it impossible for there to be a climax. Can it even be defined as a story if there is no climax? This poses a fairly large problem, for how can the reader stay interested in the story if there is no real emotional build up? Without an emotional build up it seems difficult for the reader to be pulled into the story. Birkerts shares the same idea, stating that he felt “none of the tug,”(Birkerts 151) he had felt with books The satisfaction gained from the final chapter of a novel bringing an entire story together, is something that cannot be mimicked. Knowing that satisfaction is near gives the reader an empowering rush to finish the novel. Each event in a story paves the road to the final destination of that satisfaction. If the reader cannot feel an emotional build up, then what is stopping them from putting the novel down and moving on to a story that hooks their attention? Jackson’s Patchwork Girl lacks the thrust that pushes the reader into the story and keeps them from putting it down.
An important question to think about is; Will hypertext become the “book” of our age? The answer to the question is no. Although hypertext appears to be the more efficient way for an author to get their point across, it lacks the ability to pull the reader into the story. It is similar to reading the end of a mystery story before reading the previous plot. If you know what happens in the end, all else seems pointless to read. The book has lasted through thousands of years and continues to be the most popular medium. To Jackson’s credit Patchwork Girl has qualities that no other novel shares, but it lacks the key qualities that make a novel, a novel. For that reason Patchwork Girl fails as a novel.
Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age. London: Faber & Faber, 2006. Print.
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