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Breathalyzing physio-cybertext

Published: 10 September 2007 Publication History

Abstract

This poster investigates the creative interplay between readerly intentionality and corporeality in 'physio-cybertext', exemplified by Kate Pullinger et al.'s The Breathing Wall. This gothic murder mystery uses the reader's respiratory system as driving force for disclosing essential referential meaning, or 'clues'. TBW deviates from - and thereby reconfirms metagenerically - the rules of the conventional thriller by leaving the solution of the mystery not only to the reader's intention-driven, cognitive engagement with the plot, but chiefly to his or her very physical condition. Drawing on Aarseth's (1997) 'text/machine' and notions of intentionality and physical situatedness, I introduce the concept of 'cybertextual retro-intentionalization'.

References

[1]
Aarseth, E. J. (1997) Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[2]
Damasio, A. (2004) Looking for Spinoza. London: Vintage.
[3]
Dovey, J. and Kennedy, H. (2006) Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
[4]
Ensslin, A. (submitted) 'Respiratory Narrative: Multimodality and Cybernetic Corporeality in 'Physio--Cybertext', PALA SIG 'Narrative and Multimodality' 2007 Conference Proceedings.
[5]
Lyons, W. (1995) Approaches to Intentionality. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[6]
Pullinger, K., Schemat, S. and Babel (2004) The Breathing Wall, CD-ROM. London: The Sayle Literary Agency.
[7]
Ryan, M.-L. (2001) Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
[8]
Searle, J. (1983) Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  1. Breathalyzing physio-cybertext

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    HT '07: Proceedings of the eighteenth conference on Hypertext and hypermedia
    September 2007
    240 pages
    ISBN:9781595938206
    DOI:10.1145/1286240
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    Publication History

    Published: 10 September 2007

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    Author Tags

    1. (physio-)cybertext
    2. corporeality
    3. intentionality
    4. physical situatedness
    5. retro-intentionalization

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    HT07
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    HT07: 18th Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia
    September 10 - 12, 2007
    Manchester, UK

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