RF:
I made these proposals in 1973, soon after the publication
of my first novel, "Double or Nothing" (Alles Oder Nichts),
a novel which has now been recognized by a number of critics
as a precursor of hypertext and hyperfiction. Of course, in
the early 1970's, the terms hypertext and hyperfiction were
not known, and yet a number of novelists (I was not alone in
trying to invent a new way to write fiction) were already
transforming traditional syntax, and undermining narrative
linearity. My proposals were perhaps more radical than most
because they also asked not only for a new way to write
fiction, but also a new way to read fiction. And so, I
invented what I called
paginal syntax, and the
leap-frog technique.
Paginal syntax allows
the words to float freely on the page and organized
themselves visually and typographically in such a way that
the shape of language becomes more important than the
meaning the words are tying to convey. Paginal syntax allows
improvisation in writing as well as in reading. Each page is
more or less self-contained. In this sense then, the
relation of the pages to each other becomes unpredictable,
in the same way that the elements of an hypertext are
unpredictable in relation to each other. Paginal syntax
engenders a sense of free participation in the
writing/reading process. Both "Double or Nothing" and "Take
It or Leave It" exemplify this method
The leap-frog
technique is primarily a succession of narrative
digressions. Each page, each paragraph of the narrative
digresses in relation to the next. Consequently, linearity
and sequentiality become obsolete and irrelevant. In a
digressive narrative structure the overarching plot-line is
no longer important as the individual page anticipates the
power of the single hypertextual lexia. Digressive narrative
will not have a beginning, middle, and end , it will not
lend itself to a continuous and totalizing form of reading.
It will refuse resolution and closure, it will always remain
an open discourse, and this, of course, is also true of
hyperficition. Hyperfiction progresses by leaps and
bounds.
In this sense then, my
novels "Double or Nothing," "Amer Eldorado" (written in
French) and "Take It or Leave It" prefigure the hypertexutal
instant in American fiction. So, to answer the final
sentence of your question. My fiction of the early 70's
harmonizes conceptually with a number of other currents on
the contemporary scene, especially Hyperfiction.
RS:
Did you ever consider employing all the new writing tools of
digital media and work on the web?
RF: I have already
done a number of pieces of fiction using and abusing the
tools of digital media, some of these are on the net - but
more important I am currently writing (in collaboration with
another writer) a novel literally invented on the internet
by using email and instant messages, besides telephone tapes
video letters conversation etc. The book is called "In
Search of Mona, a Love Story Improvised on the Spot."
Weidler Verlag in Berlin will publish in June (I will be
there for the occasion) the first volume of email
correspondence between the editor and the author. The book
is called "Mentir ou Mourir / Lie or Die: Naissance des
livres dans l'esprit e-mail" (the book is mostly in French
though there are some emails in English and in German
too.)
And George Chambers and I
started another collaborative project via e-mail -
interlacing our words. George Chambers and I wrote "The
Twilight of the Bums" (Penner Rap, in German) which
will be launched as an e-book in July by AltX.
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