Destination Unknown: Experiments in the Network Novel
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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI DATE: November 25, 2002 I, Scott Rettberg , hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in: The Department of English & Comparative Literature It is entitled: Destination Unknown: Experiments in the Network Novel Approved by: Thomas LeClair, Ph.D. Joseph Tabbi, Ph.D. Norma Jenckes, Ph.D. Destination Unknown: Experiments in the Network Novel A dissertation submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the Department of English and Comparative Literature of the College of Arts and Sciences 2003 by Scott Rettberg B.A. Coe College, 1992 M.A. Illinois State University, 1995 Committee Chair: Thomas LeClair, Ph.D. Abstract The dissertation contains two components: a critical component that examines recent experiments in writing literature specifically for the electronic media, and a creative component that includes selections from The Unknown, the hypertext novel I coauthored with William Gillespie and Dirk Stratton. In the critical component of the dissertation, I argue that the network must be understood as a writing and reading environment distinct from both print and from discrete computer applications. In the introduction, I situate recent network literature within the context of electronic literature produced prior to the launch of the World Wide Web, establish the current range of experiments in electronic literature, and explore some of the advantages and disadvantages of writing and publishing literature for the network. In the second chapter, I examine the development of the book as a technology, analyze “electronic book” distribution models, and establish the difference between the “electronic book” and “electronic literature.” In the third chapter, I interrogate the ideas of linking, nonlinearity, and referentiality. In the fourth chapter, I examine some specific examples of network novels: Robert Arellano’s Sunshine ’69, Shelley and Pamela Jackson’s The Doll Games, Rob Wittig’s Blue Company, and The Unknown. In discussing these network novels, I illustrate how the network imposes certain constraints on the form of the novel, and discuss some of the strategies that authors have employed to create distinctly literary reading experiences for the fragmented reading environment of the network. In the conclusion of the critical component, I survey some of the new forms and genres currently in development, and delineate some of the challenges faced by the field of electronic literature at this time. The creative component of the dissertation includes forty “scenes” from The Unknown, the 1998 trAce/AltX International Hypertext Competition-winning collaborative hypertext novel. The preface to these selections discusses the effect of remediating sections of a novel written for the network into print. In print, the selections from the hypertext novel function autonomously as a comic, metafictional, and intertextual road-trip novel, and track the rise and fall of the eponymous authors of The Unknown. Dedication This dissertation is a belated eightieth birthday present for my grandmother, Mercedes Rettberg, who, with the tenacity only an Irish grandmother could muster, promised to haunt me for eternity should I not complete my Ph.D. while she still walked the earth. You finally got a doctor, Grandma. Acknowledgements This work would not have been completed without the generous help of family, friends, colleagues, teachers, and institutions. The Charles Phelps Taft Advanced Graduate Fellowship from the Taft Memorial Fund at the University of Cincinnati provided me with generous funding that translated into the writing time without which The Unknown would not have developed into a fully-fledged hypertext novel. I’m grateful to all of my teachers, particularly the faculty of the University of Cincinnati, who gave me room to explore many paths that might have seemed tangential at the time, but which have since become the core foci of my academic career. I am grateful to Robert Coover, who selected The Unknown as the co-winner of the 1998 trAce/AltX International Hypertext Competition, introduced me to the world of electronic literature, helped me to launch the Electronic Literature Organization, and offers me a model for the writer’s life. I am also grateful to Jeff Ballowe, Marjorie Luesebrink, and the other board members and advisors of the Electronic Literature Organization, who made the last three years of my life into a pre-doctoral post-doc in electronic literature that any graduate student would envy. My “e-lit friends” in Chicago, especially Rob Wittig and Kurt Heintz, helped keep the “virtual” work I was doing with electronic literature anchored in a social reality that was only a few blocks from my front door. I already miss our bimonthly “e-lit dinners” at Moti Mahal on Clark Street and the many engaging conversations we shared. I am especially grateful for the friendship and camaraderie of my coauthors in The Unknown: William Gillespie and Dirk Stratton, with whom I shared the most exhilarating adventures of my writing career, and who will always be my brothers as much as collaborators. My parents, Paul and Barbara Rettberg, have stood by me and supported me through all the ups and downs of my fragmented journey through life, as have my brothers Paul, Kyle, and Eric, my sister, Megan and my Aunt Debbie. More than anyone else, I owe my wife and best friend Shelly an enormous debt for the many hours, rightfully hers, which I sacrificed to this endeavor; I can only hope that my love for her and renewed attention might begin to repay her patience. The three members of my dissertation committee have helped me in immeasurable ways, and have exhibited a great deal of tolerance with an unconventional student exploring an unconventional focus on an unconventional schedule. During my time at the University of Cincinnati, Norma Jenckes was an exceptional advisor, guiding my scholarship in drama, nurturing my creative impulses as a novice playwright, and employing me as an editorial assistant on American Drama. While I was living in Chicago, Joseph Tabbi was both a great friend and a scholarly mentor who kept me connected to academe and the world of ideas, constantly encouraging me to balance the practical concerns of my organizational work with my intellectual development as a scholar and writer. Tom LeClair, the Chair of my dissertation committee, was the reason that I applied to the University of Cincinnati’s doctoral program in the first place and has been a true mentor throughout my time in the program. I am grateful for his tireless work on this dissertation, and I am proud to have earned his respect with its successful completion. i Table of Contents Part One: Experiments in the Network Novel I. Introduction............................................................................ 1 II. Books, Electronic Books, and Electronic Literature .............. 15 III. Hypertext: Linking, Nonlinearity, Referentiality................... 42 IV. The Network Novel .............................................................. 68 V. Conclusion: Further Down the Forking Paths...................... 112 VI. Bibliography....................................................................... 122 Part Two: Selections from The Unknown Preface ............................................................................... 128 Hypertext of the Unknown.................................................. 137 The Unknown, a Hypertext Novel....................................... 139 How I Long For Those Days of Innocence! ........................ 147 Driving in Iowa .................................................................. 148 Coe College, in Cedar Rapids ............................................. 150 We Sat in Aukema’s Kitchen in Iowa City.......................... 153 Public Health Transportation .............................................. 158 Division of Labor ............................................................... 161 William’s Ancestral Origins ............................................... 164 Fall at the House of John Barth........................................... 166 In New Jersey, We Drank with David Markson .................. 170 England .............................................................................. 171 ii Scott is Henry Miller in Paris.............................................. 173 Dirk is Cuchulainn.............................................................. 175 Scott Had Been Left Behind ............................................... 177 Marla is our Publicist.......................................................... 182 Marla, in Her Own Words................................................... 183 What Actually Happened in Atlanta.................................... 186 We Got Some Press When We Were in Gainesville............ 188 Boston ................................................................................ 194 San Diego and the Gathering Cult....................................... 198 Fame Has Its Costs ............................................................. 200 We Had Become Media...................................................... 206 William Had Some Problems.............................................. 207 Before William’s Accident ................................................. 213 Los Angeles Media Confusion...........................................