Philosophy of decomposition: the process of creating the Terminal hypertext novel

Abstract

Literary works that make expressive use of the digital medium in such a way that they become unfeasible in the printed medium: starting from this definition of digital literature and taking it as a challenge, I started the process of conceiving the work Terminal. It is a hypertextual novel, a fictional narrative that reassemble and examine the memory under the mourning of the end of a relationship. Led by the resentful monologue of one of the lovers, the narrative structures several plot possibilities, which develop in reaction to the punctual voice of the absent lover. This voice materializes in the offer of hyperlinks, each one offering an answer that leads the hurt lover to a different argument. Confronted by a history of printed hypertextual works, I sought to achieve with Terminal the necessary complexity to fulfill the premise of its material unfeasibility in a support such as the book. This essay is an effort to return to this question, among others, recapitulating and reflecting on the process of creating the work.