Dietz, Laura; (2023) Showing the scars. In: HT '23: Proceedings of the 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media. (pp. p. 21). ACM

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Abstract

This short presentation examines instances of literary hypertexts intentionally stripped of that which makes them interconnected and updatable. To investigate aspects of how and why text creators, users, and intermediaries de-enhance hypertexts for reasons entirely distinct from the much-studied antipathy to hypertextuality found in some 20th century literary cultures, it contrasts one commercial and one non-commercial (indeed, actively anti-commercial) example: the mass phenomenon of Kindle Direct Publishing and the niche practice of fan binding. Fan bindings, where fanfiction and other fan works are printed and bound as material objects, sometimes using Print on Demand (POD) services but more often by hand, circulate in a gift economy with distinctive ethical norms and, as transformative works in their own right, illustrate how meaning is made as well as lost in uncoupling works from their fan community contexts. Juxtaposing these examples problematises conceptions of either commercial self-publishing or non-commercial fan communities as offering uncomplicated refuge for interactive literature, and challenges narratives of literary communities as en-duringly hostile to or no longer interested in experimentation with hypertextuality. The presentation addresses the conference topics of authorship and reading practices from a book history perspective, highlighting the wider significance of stances against hypertextuality and implications for hypertext creators and audiences across genres.

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