Hypertext literature, the product of computer, has changed the every facet of literature. Paper, link, and brush have been taken place by keyboard, mouse, and monitor to be the written and read tools. Hypertext literature getting rid of every convention of books creates lots of possibilities. Except for words, each link and format would imply literary meaning to some extend. The possibilities are not only conducted by the author but also found by the every reader himself/herself because the links passed through by each reader won’t be the same. It is a revolution of written form involved with visual and audio enjoyment. For a reader with less computer literacy and the ability to enjoy literature, hypertext literature may cause some confusion. The following is about my opinion after finish reading Clues, Lies and Rice. 

The front page of Clues presents several words and doors. Each door is a link to continue the story. I felt I was detecting a murder and needing to find out the clues when starting playing the game. There are several links to help readers find out clues while some links tell you stories and others let readers feel awkward as a fake and novice detector. I played this game twice while I always ended up losing the evidence and feeling frustrated. I didn’t play the third time even though I really wonder about the result. Probably, due to the lack of “digging out” spirit, I know I never become a detector in real life. The stories of Clues are conducted by many random links so that the readers can enjoy the unexpected following events and the triumph to find out the clues. I am impressive by the exquisite designing and context-fitted background music in Clues while still being confused of the result.

The designing of Lies is different from Clues. Without music and pictures, Lies is conducted only by words. After some narration, readers can choose lies or truth which is link to continue the story. I was attracted by the sentences presented on the front page. “Lies tell you more about a person than the truth does. Lies tell you what a person wants to be, rather than what they are. Lies are dreams, lies are fantasy. Who wants to live the truth, when you can live a lie?” In my opinion, the sentences are the essence in the whole text. Compared to Clues, which is more like a game, Lies with less distraction leads me into the story per se. There are four characters in Lies—the narrator, his lover, and their summer lovers respectively Antoine and Gabriella. Instead of reading in order, I chose to interweave the truth and lies when reading the first time. Then I found there is a big contradictory between truth and lies. It is a very well-organized story. Now that one plot is true, another must be false. At the second time, I read the whole truth and whole lies. It’s really interesting. The pictures are presented vividly in my mind. The juxtaposition among the stories reveals how distorted a lie would be. I do enjoy the story. The whole story is full of the symbol of dancing and wine. “We have code words for lying. We call it “dancing”.” And to “enjoy rums and cokes” is to enjoy telling the other about your lies and crying over it.” I wonder the author must have a very subtle feeling when it comes to lying.

     The last one I would like to discuss is Rice. Its front page is composed of several pictures related to Vietnam. Each photo is link also. When reading the text, I found per story behind each photo doesn’t have too much relation to each other except for that all of them have something to do with Vietnam War. The story is more associated with its picture. There are some pages only presenting music or pictures but not words and some are involved with other links. I found that every piece of photos is similar to the fragment of memory which seems vivid but vague sometimes. Rice combines the advantages of Clues’ exquisite designing and Lies’ story imagination. I like the background music most which is very exotic and helps readers capture the mood portrayed by both words and photos easily.

I also read several texts in which I am not that interested such as Textension and Brandon. As far as I am concerned, Textension is a word game plus visual enjoyment to inspire the designing of word shape. As for Brandon, I found the story a very controversial and poignant one. Except for the different context and format designing, being a reader, I think I do have some interaction with those texts I mention above, and restructure the story though different links. After enjoying so many texts on the Internet, the only thing I am sure is the world of hypertext literature is as wide as the Internet itself. Writers with substantial computer literacy and literary background can use the Internet to fulfill their imagination and creativities. For readers, enjoying literature is not monotonous anymore. However, no matter what kind of written form the writer chooses, literature is kind of art as a mediator for authors to communicate with their readers. The great genius Tolstoy said, “Art is not a handicraft; it’s the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”    

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