Introduction

As I have commented briefly at the abstract, I will be basing my paper in the hypertext written by Phillipa J. Burne: “24 Hours with someone you know…” the reason why I have chosen this text is because after having read some others, “24 hours…” seemed me an amusing and pleasant reading and a well structured text. Once I have read it I realised that, although it is more linear than other hypertexts, its structure is very complicated, and has many possible choices so that you can build your own story as the main character, around a basic argument, that is the following:

The protagonist goes to visit his or her cousin Jess, to the house she used to share with some friends, but when he/she arrive jess is not there, and nobody knows really what happened for her disappearance, she simply moved and the only thing that she left there were some unpaid phone bills. So in order to find out where is Jess and the reason for her leave, the protagonist spends the day with her former house mates, being immersed at his/ her cousin’s world. Along the story the reader, following the paths that he or she decide, visits the places that Jess frequented and talks to her friends so as to collect information. But, after having followed her friends to pubs, parties… and having slept at their grubby sofa, the protagonist leaves the house without knowing anything about the cousin Jess.

My analysis is centred on the space aspects of the text and in order to make it more understandable I have elaborated a diagram where are included all the different paths that can be followed while reading “24 hours…”, at this scheme I have pointed out the path I followed in my first reading, the options that I missed and the obligatory pass options.

Internal spaces External spaces Conclusion

rutvisan@alumni.uv.es

Universitat de València Press