Figurski at Findhorn on Acid

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Rosellini's 1737 Mechanical Pig is a fictional automaton from the hypertext novel "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" by Richard Holeton Rosellini's 1737 Mechanical Pig.png
Rosellini's 1737 Mechanical Pig is a fictional automaton from the hypertext novel "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" by Richard Holeton

Figurski at Findhorn on Acid is a hypertext novel by Richard Holeton published on CD-ROM by Eastgate Systems in 2001 and republished on the open web by the Electronic Literature Lab, Washington State University, in 2021. [1] Re-Imagined Radio presented a radio interpretation of this novel in 2022 in which Holeton made an appearance. [2] It is a work of interactive fiction with various paths for readers to choose from, an early example of electronic literature, and one of 23 works included in the literary hypertext canon. [3]

Contents

Origins and influences

Figurski at Findhorn on Acid developed from a flash fiction published in Grain literary magazine in 1996 entitled “Streleski at Findhorn on Acid,” winner of Grain’s "postcard story" contest. [4] Holeton extended the concept of "Someone, at Someplace, with Something" with two more characters, two more locations, and two more artifacts, to create an electronic text using Storyspace software, which became a novel-length MFA thesis at San Francisco State University. [5] [6]

Holeton drew inspiration for the novel from writers such as Laurence Sterne and Vladimir Nabokov, whom he admires for their humor and self-reflexivity and considers precursors of hypertext fiction for their digressive and non-linear work. [5] [7]

Publication history

The first full version of Figurski at Findhorn on Acid was published on CD-ROM by Eastgate Systems, Inc. in 2001. [5] A 2nd Edition was self-published by Holeton on Storyspace 3.0 in 2008. [6]

A 20th Anniversary Edition was published on the web using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript in 2021 by Washington State University Vancouver's Electronic Literature Lab. This edition includes both contemporary and archival versions, as well as three new introductions, written by Holeton and scholars Dene Grigar and Michael Tratner. [1] The process of this emulation is explained in The NEXT Museum, Library, and Preservation Space's work, The Challenges of Born-Digital Fiction. [8]

Plot

Figurski at Findhorn on Acid contains an overall plot as well as the multiplicity of storylines that characterizes hypertext fiction. The three protagonists are title character Frank Figurski, a Vietnamese-American, "No-Hands Cup Flipper” named Nguyen Van Tho, and a gender-bending French-Moroccan journalist, Fatima Michelle Vieuchanger.

The characters compete to possess a remarkable 18th-century automaton, Rosellini's 1737 Mechanical Pig, and a forgery of the automaton. [3] They travel from Findhorn, Scotland to a South Florida trailer park with side-trips to the virtual Holodeck in their pursuit. Individually and together, they discover, hide, steal, and disassemble the mechanical pig. In the end, they meet up at the turn of the 21st century. [6]

Structure

The novel has a combinatorial structure, its scenes determined by every possible combination of the three main characters, three artifacts, and three locations. [9] Readers can choose to navigate the resulting 147 unique scenarios in various ways. [5] A “default reading path” follows a roughly chronological path through the passages. [6] Readers can also navigate the text using two directory pages, the “Navigator” page and the “Time Lines” page. [6]

The "Navigator" screen contains links to the characters, places, and artifacts within the novel. [10] [6]

The "Time Lines" page links to time sequences and events chronologically, covering dates from prehistoric to the distant future, with most events occurring from 1993 to 2000. Readers can choose to follow any of the 12 provided time sequences. [5]

The "Map" function, originally a feature of Storyspace, enables the reader to navigate the text by clicking through a graphical representation of the structure, where text passages are represented by nested rectangles and links are shown with arrows. This functionality has been recreated for the web in the 2021 edition. [10]

The novel also contains a “Notes” section, which is divided into nine thematic categories that include an additional 147 passages of metacommentary on elements of the main text, many with images. [5] [11] Within the scenarios of the novel, notes can be accessed via hidden links. In the original Storyspace version, those links become visible with a keystroke combination, as wire-frame boxes around selected text. In the modern web version, in addition to the keystroke combination, a "link" button on each page reveals the wire-framed text links. [12]

With its 147 main narrative passages, 147 Notes, and 60 navigational pages, the novel totals 354 passages, interconnected by 2001 links. [12]

Genre

Global map view of hypertext novel "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" Figurski at Findhorn on Acid Map View.png
Global map view of hypertext novel "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid”

The novel employs or parodies multiple genres, including dramatic dialogue, scientific writing, journalism, dialectically transcribed language (e.g. Scottish youth slang), heroic couplets, haikus, and email. [3] Academic language, research culture, and pedagogical rhetoric are especially satirized. [5]

Literary significance and critical reception

Figurski at Findhorn on Acid has been studied and discussed by a number of literary scholars and hypertext critics, including Dene Grigar, [6] Michael Tratner, [13] Mariusz Pisarski, [10] Astrid Ensslin, [3] Alice Bell, [11] and Chelsea Miya. [5] It is catalogued and glossed in the Electronic Literature Directory and the ELMCIP Electronic Literature Knowledge Base, and it is part of the permanent repository of the Electronic Literature Organization. [5] [14] Critical readings of the novel discuss its episodic and combinatorial structure, layers of self-reflexivity, and comedy and social satire. [9] [11] [6]

In selecting Figurski at Findhorn on Acid for the "hypertext canon," Ensslin writes,"Holeton ranks among the few writers who have taken the original concept of hyperfiction in the sense of graphemic centrality into the new millennium." [3] Alice Bell analyzes the text in a framework of Marie-Laure Ryan's Possible Worlds Theory, arguing that much of the novel's absurdity results from incongruities among its layers of fictionalized and "real-world" events and locations, juxtaposing mundane episodes with bizarre situations. [11] In a narratological analysis, Bell and Ensslin discuss how the novel involves the reader in its construction through second-person narration, and other uses of the textual "you." [15] Bell notes that this work has received less critical attention than other hypertext works and speculates that this is because it was written in 2001, when other forms of electronic literature were emerging. [16]

Critics have also discussed the novel as postmodern literature for its use of metacommentary, its blurring of boundaries between fiction and reality, [11] [5] and its investigation of what Jean Baudrillard called the "omnipotence of manipulation." [13] Michael Tratner suggests that the novel is "not merely about endless copies," but also "about the search for a center . . . .an alternative to the chaos which Baudrillard condemns and [Jacques] Derrida in a sense welcomes." [13]

Related Research Articles

Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to the next, and in this fashion arranges a story from a deeper pool of potential stories. Its spirit can also be seen in interactive fiction.

Electronic literature or digital literature is a genre of literature where digital capabilities such as interactivity, multimodality or algorithmic text generation are used aesthetically. Works of electronic literature are usually intended to be read on digital devices, such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. They cannot be easily printed, or cannot be printed at all, because elements crucial to the work cannot be carried over onto a printed version.

<i>afternoon, a story</i> Hypertext fiction by Michael Joyce

afternoon, a story, spelled with a lowercase 'a', is a work of electronic literature written in 1987 by American author Michael Joyce. It was published by Eastgate Systems in 1990 and is known as one of the first works of hypertext fiction.

<i>Patchwork Girl</i> (hypertext) Work of electronic literature by Shelley Jackson

Patchwork Girl or a Modern Monster by Mary/Shelly and Herself is a work of electronic literature by American author Shelley Jackson. It was written in Storyspace and published by Eastgate Systems in 1995. It is often discussed along with Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story as an important work of hypertext fiction.

<i>Victory Garden</i> (novel) Novel by Stuart Moulthrop

Victory Garden is a work of electronic literature by American author Stuart Moulthrop. It was written in StorySpace and first published by Eastgate Systems in 1991. Victory Garden is one of the earliest examples of hypertext novels, and is notable for being very inventive and influential in its genre. It is often discussed along with Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story as an important work of hypertext fiction.

Jay David Bolter is the Wesley Chair of New Media and a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His areas of study include the evolution of media, the use of technology in education, and the role of computers in the writing process. More recently, he has conducted research in the area of augmented reality and mixed media. Bolter collaborates with researchers in the Augmented Environments Lab, co-directed with Blair MacIntyre, to create apps for entertainment, cultural heritage and education for smart phones and tablets. This supports his theory regarding remediation where he discusses "all media functions as remediators and that remediation offers us a means of interpreting the work of earlier media as well".

Stuart Moulthrop is an innovator of electronic literature and hypertext fiction, both as a theoretician and as a writer. He is author of the hypertext fiction works Victory Garden (1992), which was on the front-page of the New York Times Book Review in 1993, Reagan Library (1999), and Hegirascope (1995), amongst many others. Moulthrop is currently a Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of English, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He also became a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization in 1999.

David Kolb is an American philosopher and the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bates College in Maine.

Eastgate Systems is a publisher and software company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, which publishes hypertext.

Storyspace is a software program for creating, editing, and reading hypertext fiction. It can also be used for writing and organizing fiction and non-fiction intended for print. Maintained and distributed by Eastgate Systems, the software is available both for Windows and Mac.

Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink was an American writer, scholar, and teacher. Writing hypermedia fiction under the pen name M.D. Coverley, she is best known for her epic hypertext novels Califia (2000) and Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day (2006). A pioneer born-digital writer, she is part of the first generation of electronic literature authors that arose in the 1987–1997 period. She was a founding board member and past president of the Electronic Literature Organization and the first winner of the Electronic Literature Organization Career Achievement Award, which was named in her honor. Lusebrink was professor emeritus, School of Humanities and Languages at Irvine Valley College (IVC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dene Grigar</span>

Dene Grigar is a digital artist and scholar based in Vancouver, Washington. She was the President of the Electronic Literature Organization from 2013 to 2019. In 2016, Grigar received the International Digital Media and Arts Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Richard Holeton is an American writer and higher-education administrator. Holeton's creative works are foundational in the hypertext and electronic literature genres. As a writer, his most notable work is the hypertext novel Figurski at Findhorn on Acid, which has been recognized as an important early work of electronic literature and is included in the hypertext canon.

<i>These Waves of Girls</i> 2001 hypermedia novella by Caitlin Fisher

These Waves of Girls is a hypermedia novella by Caitlin Fisher that won the Electronic Literature Organization's Award for Fiction in 2001. The work is frequently taught in undergraduate literature courses and is referenced in the field of electronic literature as a significant example of early multimodal web-based hypertext fiction, placing Fisher "at the forefront of digital writing".

34 North 118 West by Jeff Knowlton, Naomi Spellman, and Jeremy Hight is one of the first locative hypertexts. Published in 2003, the work connected Global Positioning System (GPS) data with a fictional narrative on an early tablet PC connected to Global Positioning devices to deliver a real-time story to a user.

Califia is a hypermedia novel written by M.D. Coverley in ToolBook II, and released in 2000 by Eastgate Systems on CD-ROM. It is considered an early influential text in the field of electronic literature.

Its Name Was Penelope is a hypertext fictional story created by Judy Malloy and published in 1993 by Eastgate Systems. The work makes use of digital elements such as randomized passages to tell the story of the main character's life.

<i>Uncle Buddys Phantom Funhouse</i>

Uncle Buddy's Phantom Funhouse is an early multimedia hypermedia text written by John McDaid and released by Eastgate Systems in 1993. The main portion of Funhouse was written for Macintosh's HyperCard app, but portions of the hypermedia novel are also contained in the original box. The use of transmedia storytelling, meta-fiction, and epistolary format makes this a potential early example of an alternate reality game.

The NEXT: Museum, Library, and Preservation Space is a repository of net art, electronic literature and games. It is supported by the Electronic Literature Lab, Washington State University at Vancouver and the Electronic Literature Organization. This is a digital museum dedicated to reviving and maintaining these works to make them accessible to all. Physical artifacts are held at the Electronic Literature Lab in Washington, US.

References

  1. 1 2 Holeton, Richard (2021). Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. Vancouver, WA: Electronic Literature Lab. doi:10.7273/yh99-ma57.
  2. ↑ "Re-Imagined Radio, "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" - Events Calendar - WSU Vancouver". www.vancouver.wsu.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ensslin, Astrid (2007). Canonizing Hypertext: Explorations and Constructions. London: Continuum. p. 66. ISBN   9781472542281.
  4. ↑ Holeton, Richard (Winter 1996). "Streleski at Findhorn on Acid". Grain Magazine. 23 (3). ISSN   0315-7423.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Miya, Chelsea (12 May 2019). "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid". Electronic Literature Directory.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Grigar, Dene (20 December 2019). "A Man and His Shoes: Complexity and Satire in Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid". Rebooting Electronic Literature. 2: 01.
  7. ↑ Holeton, Richard (1998). "Don't Eat the Yellow Hypertext: Notes on Figurski at Findhorn on Acid". Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy.
  8. ↑ "The Challenges of Born-Digital Fiction: Editions, Translations, and Emulations: Interface of the 2021 Web Edition of Figurski". The Challenges of Born-Digital Fiction: Editions, Translations, and Emulations: The Multimedia Accompaniment to the Print Edition. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  9. 1 2 "eNarrative Spotlight 4: a chat with Richard Holeton". eNarrative. 21 January 2005. Archived from the original on 21 January 2005.
  10. 1 2 3 Pisarski, Mariusz (14 July 2021). "The new Figurski…– blueprints for media translation". Electronic Literature Lab.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Bell, Alice (2010). "The Colorful Worlds of Richard Holeton's (2001) 'Figurski at Findhorn on Acid'". The Possible Worlds of Hypertext Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 150–184. ISBN   978-0-230-28128-8.
  12. 1 2 Grigar, Dene (2021). "Migration as Translation: Moving Figurski to the Web". In Holeton, Richard (ed.). Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. Vancouver, WA: Electronic Literature Lab.
  13. 1 2 3 Tratner, Michael (2021). "The Distinctive Quality of Holeton's Hypertext Novel". In Holeton, Richard (ed.). Figurski at Findhorn on Acid. Vancouver, WA: Electronic Literature Lab.
  14. ↑ Rasmussen, Eric Dean. "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid". ELMCIP. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  15. ↑ Bell, Alice; Ensslin, Astrid (2011). ""I know what it was. You know what it was": Second-Person Narration in Hypertext Fiction". Narrative. 19 (3): 311–329. doi:10.1353/nar.2011.0020. S2CID   145406694.
  16. ↑ Bell, Alice (2010). The possible worlds of hypertext fiction (Thesis). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 150-184. ISBN   9780230542556.
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