The chapters of traditional
literature are linked to the previous chapter and the next chapter only.
With Damascene,
as
with any other hypertext, one text block links to more
blocks.
In our specific case, each
chapter
links with between one and four more chapters:
Builders is only linked to the chapter that comes after
it, as it is the introduction and the physical and chronological
situation of
the story.
We can access to Lunch only from Builders, but
after we
read it, we can either choose to read first about The Third Church or The
Palace in the First Fork. The
fork has a webpage on its own, only showing how it works (choose the
order to
read the chapters) and the links. When we have already read one of these two
chapters, we will be directed to the other. This is an interesting point to
mention, as no matter the order in which the text is read, the reader will
always read it in full length and will not miss any
information.
After those text blocks comes
the Second Fork, and the second
decision on
the order we want to read the story in. In this second fork we can choose
between The Bedchamber and The Dining-room, both rooms inside the
unfinished palace. When we finish those chapters the author lets us know
that
we have finished reading the text.
Illustrations in the text
have been
made by Ian Campbell, and are usually placed at
the beggining of every chapter. Builders start with an image of some tools from masons and
constructors. Lunch starts
with the
bread ship Damascene makes for Attilia during the
dinner. The Third Church shows an
image of some church arches, resembling a church not yet completely
built. Next
chapter, The Palace, features the
marble statue found in the site of the palace. The Bedchamber anticipates the two wedding rings the Johns
give Attilia when the church is finished. The Dining-Room shows a clock pointing to ten to ten, or
north-west
if we come to think of it as a compass. The only other images in the
hypertext
are the only in the title page, an ancient-looking engraving of a architect
working on some measures, and the coat of arms of the Nikolich
family, both in the church John the Ladder was going to build, and in
the one
he finally builds. The background image of the entire website resembles
an old
scroll, stressing even more the mythical look of Damascene.
So we have a total of six
chapters
plus both forks, to a total of eight web pages which, along with the title,
make the complete Website for Damascene:
a tale for computer and compasses.
The story is hosted into www.ezone.org, a website that also hosts
some other
hypertext fictions such as Girl Birth
Water Death, by Martha Conway; no
bird but an invisible thing, by xian; or The Distorted Barbie, by napier.
Academic
year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Gil Fernández, Manuel
magilfer@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia Press