Bonus Blog: Creating the Hypertext Project

This is bonus blog and will remain open until Thursday, April 10 at 11:59 pm. Responses will be worth up to 15 points. In order to receive all points posts must be a MINIMUM OF 300 WORDS (this is about 1.5 pages of a double-spaced word document) and must show an in-depth discussion of the prompt. Responses are optional and all extra points will be added to your final grade at the end of the semester.

Discuss the process of creating your hypertext project. What was your goal in creating this project? Did you find that creating this project helped you to think about the text in a different way than writing an essay would have? What are the benefits and drawbacks to approaching a text in this way rather than in a more "traditional" way (such as writing an essay)?

Discuss the reasons for all your choices on design: colors, graphics, layout, and how these choices worked with the content of your hypertext essay. What element of your site were you most happy with? What part were you least happy with? Was there anything that you wanted to include in your website but were unable to due to technical issues?

Blog 8: House of Leaves and Genre

Though it has a very unique structure and narrative point of view, House of Leaves is heavily influenced by the horror genre. The novel does deal with fear and terror and the supernatural--all hallmarks of horror. In many ways, however, the book doesn't focus on these "traditional" expressions of horror in the same way that say, a slasher movie or a Stephen King novel would. Traditional horror often focuses on events and action, whereas Danielewski's novel treats the events in the house on Ash Tree Lane as a kind of side story, one that often takes a backseat to Zampano's critical analysis and Johnny Truant's tales of sex, drugs, and life in LA.

With this in mind, what creates horror in House of Leaves? What has been the "scariest" part of the narrative for you? Why? Consider other texts (books, short stories, films, tv shows) that you consider to be part of the horror genre. What do these texts have in common? Why do people liked to watch/read/experience fear and how does this relate to the horror in House of Leaves?

Blog 7: Patchwork Girl

Blog 7: Patchwork Girl
As we discussed in class, Patchwork Girl has numerous narrative threads and voices, often switching between voices or stories without any clear reason. Discuss the narrative threads that you encountered while reading and analyze the narrative for themes. What is the ideology (or world view) of Patchwork Girl? How does Jackson use her story (as well as the stories of L. Frank Baum, Mary Shelley, and other authors) to create this theme/ideology. Use specific examples from the text to support your reading.