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Hypertext Criticism    
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Criticism examines specific hypertexts, seeking to understand the works considered and also to improve our understanding of all hypertexts -- and, indeed, of the craft of writing. "Critical" and theoretical writing that is not grounded on actual observation is listed in a separate section, Speculations.

Robert Sielgle reviews Twilight: A Symphony by Michael Joyce. He finds Joyce's writing moving and evocative, but worries that the constraints of linked hypertexts are too confining. "The first strolls through the cool fresh air of Joyce's phrasings were exhilarating. I double-returned for the default links, I command-optioned to select my entry into the subliminal traffic flow, I shift-linked my way backwards, I map-viewed my way back out to an overview. I'm no stranger to technology: I am also no stranger to four/four time, to four walls, to the overview that is not, still, my own. "
A review of Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl, by Carolyn Guertin. "Certainly ranking among the most provocative of hypertexts published so far, Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl is a delicious feminist romp around the edges of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein...a text that resonates with sheer exuberant excess."
A masters dissertation by Lisbeth Klastrup on interactive reading and readership in hyperfiction theory and practice, with readings of afternoon and Victory Garden. Interesting observations on the conflict between immersion and reader control. Not to be confused with Michael Shumate's Web compendium of the same name.
Hypertext poet Robert Kendall reviews McLaughlin's Notes Toward Absolute Zero, and finds "not just quality writing but also an unusually accessible hypertext implementation." Kendall reports that it "an especially good introduction to the genre for neophyte hyper-readers. Notes has been particularly reliable in producing satisfying story cloth for students in the hypertext literature class I have taught for several years."
Scott Rettberg, an award-winning hypertext writer, surveys hypertext fiction for About.com
Intelligent Agent reviews Michael Joyce's Twilight: a Symphony, and finds that it "takes readers on an elegiac journey through the twilight zones of life and death that is ultimately life-affirming.".
Raine Koskimaa reviews Michael Joyce's Twilight: a Symphony for Electronic Book Review. He finds it "a remarkable achievement" and suggests that hypertext tools will need to adapt to the new needs this work demonstrates.
Hilmar Schmundt, writing in Die Zeit, explores the writing of Michael Joyce and the role of Storyspace in the development of literary hypertext. A widely-read. In German.
Gabriella Alù discusses Bernstein's Hypertext Gardens and its "Seven Rules for Hypertext Gardening". In Italian.
Carolyn Guertin explors feminist hypertext in the US and Canada, including insightful and lyrical discussions of Quibbling and Patchwork Girl.
Susana Pajares Toska takes a close look at Deena Larsen's quilted hypertexts. "Deena Larsen," she writes, "shows a mastery of very different styles through the nine short fictions and a remarkable ability to build characters and atmospheres, but the best of Samplers is the deep understanding of how to structure fiction"
Susana Pajares Toska examines Kolb's exploration of hypertext, argument, and philosophy and assesses its place in the debate over the place of hypertext in scholarship. " Thus, Socrates in the Labyrinth is not just a must for philosophers, but for all those interested in hypertext, language or rhetoric. It is equally stimulating for hypertext defenders and detractors alike."
Nick Carbone (Marlboro College) explores David Kolb's hypertext on the relationship between philosophy, argumentation, and hypertext.
Johndan Johnson-Eilola discusses Michael Joyce's Twilight: a Symphony. Johnson-Eilola is the author of Nostalgic Angels: Rearticulating Hypertext Writing. " I have not finished reading Twilight: A Symphony. In fact, I can promise you that I`m never going to finish reading Twilight.
Dinosaur or Postmodern Mutant? Narrative in the Age of Information
N. Katherine Hayles explores Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl and Marjorie Luesebrink's Califia. She finds that, "In these fictions, narrative functions less as a text to be read than a topology to be explored; less a pre-set linear sequence than a network of possibilities; less as an object to be consumed than an interactive engagement in which reader and author collaborate in bringing the narrative into being."
Is There a Hypertext In This Class? Teaching Victorian Literature in the Electronic Age
In this thorough and insightful study of hypertext in the classroom, Jonathan Smith describes two courses at the University of Michigan/Dearborn that made extensive use of hypertext, including The Dickens Web and The In Memoriam Web. Smith details the impact of hypertext reading and writing assignments on teaching strategies, on the way students write about literature, and on the instructor's own strategies for curriculum.
Who's in Charge Here? A Response to Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl
Jeanne Larsen (Hollins College) explores Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl and its implications for hypertext theory. From The New River. Highly recommended.
Mark Bernstein deplores the state of hypertext criticism and suggests an alternative approach to thinking about hypertext and its structures. Published by Chorus. (If the Chorus server is slow, try here)
Raine Koskimaa explores visual aspects of afternoon, a story, Victory Garden, and Patchwork Girl.
Carolyn Guyer examines the state of hypertext fiction. Dated but still valuable, Guyer reads extensively and comments thoughtfully.
Occasional reviews of new hypertexts
Reviews hypertextual web sites, and occasionally reviews published hypertext
Ralph Lombreglia's monthly review of new media for The Atlantic. See especially his discussion of Michael Joyce's Twilight: A Symphony.
George Landow takes a close look at Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl.
Amy Wise explores decentering in Edward Falco's A Dream with Demons.
An important and influential hypertextual essay by Nancy Kaplan
A philosopher examines David Kolb's study of hypertext and argumentation.
Burning Down The House: The Challenges of Building Interactive Narratives
Interactive Agent's editors examine a variety of Web sites, trying to understand the nature of interactive narrative.
Carolyn Guyer explores a rhetoric of hypertext aesthetics, based in part on her own hypertext novel, Quibbling. A challenging and original essay, original written for the MLA.

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