Analysis 
of 
‘Reach’

(Image taken from http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/tirweb/archives/michael_joyce/reach.html)

 

 

T

his section is based on the analysis of one of the hypertext fiction novels of Michael Joyce, ‘Reach’ which I have chosen to carry out in this

 Second Paper . It belongs to the aspect of Tools. He is a professor of English at Vassar College, New York, USA and also the co-creator together

with Jay David Bolter and John B. Smith of the Storyspace programme.

 

‘Reach’ was published in April, 2000.It is not one of the most famous hypertext works of Michael Joyce, for example Afternoon, a Story, but it is worth

reading, because it has many different ways of creating your own hypertext story thanks to all the information that the author has given us.

 

In the index page of the hypertext ‘Reach’ we observe that there is a kind of a dictionary (a page of a dictionary), because we see all the meanings of the word

 “reach”, which can be a transitive verb, an intransitive one and also a noun. Further down we can gaze at the comment of the author about his novel. In the left

part of the index page we observe a cluster of words that make up all the stories and upon them we can click to start reading the novel.

 

We have all the opportunity and freedom to read ‘Reach’ in the way we want using our own choice, because we can move both forward and backward. We

move forward thanks to a sign, which we find under the comment of Michael Joyce, which is &. We move likewise but backward thanks to the sign < . There is

also another sign which X and clicking on it you can “cross the span of the now gone storyspace which provided the compositional field”. “Each page has

indexical links to its neighbouring clusters” and all the text is linked too.

 

The structure of ‘Reach’ is “topological”(topology), that is the first screen is laid out with successive spaces placed by chance and opportunity both and

 clusters formed as spaces were added in openings suggested by the accumulations and proximate edges”, as Michael Joyce suggests in his comment about

the novel. “The motive was something of a conversation both with the nearest edges and the emerging center alike and the links are ripples”, he continues.

An example and illustration of this “topological” structure is the image that we can find in the index page of the novel:

 

(Image taken from http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/tirweb/archives/michael_joyce/reach.html)

 

 

There are many different stories within the novel ‘Reach’. I have discovered several of them but I can not see any sense in some of them, so I would not make a

comment on them. There is only one that I have discovered, I understand it and I find it interesting. You click directly on the meanings of the word “reach” and

then a page which name is tell appears. Afterwards you do not click on the text but on the sign & and you can follow the story. You do not need to read the

same story as me because there are many more and anyone can find its own.

 

My story deals with one girl and one boy who are a couple and lovers. We do not know her name, but the name of the boy is Sergio. They are living together,

but they have recently decided to separate them, because they are not happy together. When each of them is alone they realised that they are really unhappy

without each other. Both of them remember the joyful moments together and are missing each other. She waits his phone call to give them some new

opportunity. Eventually, both of them decide to gather together, solve the problems and live happily together.

 

I think that Michael Joyce has published an excellent hypertext fiction novel, which name is ‘Reach’, and he has also demonstrated how could one create a

hypertext of that kind, entertaining and interesting.

 

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