January 14th, 2010
Conclusion (Second Paper)
It has been a very fine experience having worked with a hypertext. I think the modern philologist ought to read at least one hypertext, because this phenomenon it´s getting to be a common way to study english literature in the close future. I find it entertaining reading a hypertext. I think it´s a very useful innovation, since it stimulates the fantasy of the reader, because it is the reader who decides in what way he wants to read the text. But sometimes it´s hard to decide wich path you want to follow, and this is the easiest way “to get lost” in a hypertext.
I enjoyed very much reading “Lies”, by Rick Pryll. I must say it was easy for me to follow it´s paths because the hypertext is designed in a very clear form. But I have to say that Pryll´s hypertext incited me to start reading from no on hypertext. It´s an amusing and interesting way of studying english literature and it also excites your brain in finding out what would happen in your next click.
January 14th, 2010
The space analysis
This short hypertext is devided in two parts that author call: Truth and Lies. The motto of this hypertext intrgued me to read it : ” you will never truly understand a poerson until you understand her lies”. I wanted to understand why do Pryll say this, so I immediately began to read this work of his.
I started clicking the word “Truth” and so the story began. In the first mini-part he starts convincing the reader that it´s better living in the world of lies, than in the one of truth, motiving this by saying that in the lie-world the things are just the way we want them to be. Then, Pryll starts talking about his girlfriend. He recognises that they lie to each other, although they live together for a year. In this part we identify a a space “footprint” – his apartment. Further, he tells us that in “some last summer” he went to Germany (wich is another space “fingerprint”) and how he and his girlfriend were mailing each other with love declarations, meanwhile they both had lovers. He says that she confessed to him that she had slept with that guy, but he caught her with another lie – she lied about the date when she have done it. Than he confesses to her that he also had a lover named Gabriella, with whom he had slept for three times. He liked that girl because she would listen to him, but didn´t give him any advices ever, wich he considered a good quality.
The author ends up this story by saying in conclusion that the characters can live together despite the both mistakes they both made over the summer; and also they moved together.
This is the first part of the story. When I finished reading it, I started clicking on “Lies”. He starts describing how did he met with his girlfriend a year ago. He says it was in a dance club (space “fingerprint) and gives us a small description of the manner in how he got interested by her. Than appears another girl – Gabriella and he feels that they would eventually get into intimate relationship with each other. After that, Pryll explains the reader that there are certain ways of encoding the lies. He says that it´s hard to say to someone that he or she is lyng, but that it´s much more easy to say it in a coded language. He tells us how he had found a letter from his girlfriend where he describes him how did she spent the summer, and also another letter adressed to Antoine (her lover) where she tells him all the lies he tells to Pryll to cover for him. He felt humiliated. Than he starts talking about Gabriella and how did they ended up sleeping in the same bed. At last, he describes a scene where he wakes up in the morning in a room with a gray wall (space “fingerprint”) and he can´t figure out where he is, than hears a “humm” and thinks that he´s with the read-head girl (Gabriella), but he finds out that the one who “hummed” was a dark long-haired girl. I suppose that that woman is his girlfriend, because he didn´t make it quite clear whether is she or not. This is how ends up the second short story.
This hypertext left me with some questions. Because of it´s reduced volume, it can not leave the reader without the feeling that it needs to be continued and needs some supplement to make the text more complete and intelligible.
January 14th, 2010
A Reactive Interview with Rick Pryll
Q. What made you interested in writing hypertext?
At the time, I was an undergraduate at MIT, and I had taken a few short story classes. I was also beginning a novel, and really just trying to expand my experience with writing to include different forms. I took a class, called “Interactive and Non-Linear Fiction” taught by Janet Murray, and was introduced to some hypertext classics like “Afternoon, A Story” and “The Garden of Forking Paths.” I was immediately excited by the possibilities afforded in this new form. As a somewhat successful short story writer, I found it was a great way to capture some of the strengths of my writing.
Q. What do you think are the main advantages of hypertext fiction?
In every form of writing, an author is trying to express to a reader something. By allowing the reader more freedom than linear fiction allows, the experience of reading becomes more like exploring. One of the most important aspects of learning is discovery, and I think hyperfiction makes this especially accessible to readers. At the same time, I think that accessibility can become the biggest disadvantage of hyperfiction. It is dangerously easy to become completely cryptic.
Q. You said that you are not totally satisfied with your hypertext writing, what do you think are the main problems with it?
I think that I had to take a very controlled approach to “Lies” to achieve the success that I did with it. There are only two options on each page. There are only three endings to the whole thing. Imagine if I had tried three options per page, or ten. The ability of the author to present a coherent and interesting story quickly diminishes. I think that I have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities afforded by hyperfiction with this story.
Q. How far does the technology of the internet and the web (eg. downloading time or problems of writing with HTML) restrict your creations?
I originally wrote the whole thing in HyperCard 2.0 for the Macintosh, and the design was done at the same time as the writing. Better tools for mapping flows and linking have developed since then. In addition, I think the biggest restriction is screen size. I was very conscious of the fact that I do not like to scroll down at all when reading on a computer screen. I attempted to keep all my pages short enough to prevent scrolling down. This was an especially good fit with the Internet and HTML to prevent long response times from page to page. I guess the way I wanted to read became the way I wrote.
Q. How much feed-back do you get from people who have read ‘Lies’ and how much has this influenced your writing?
I have got great responses, and lots of them. I am always pleasantly surprised when someone has taken the time to read it. I like the emails when people tell me there are loose links (it means they spent some time with it…) and when they tell me about browser problems or the inconvenience of italics. I have often wondered whether I would get this much response if I published any of my writing in any other way. The Internet is really a wonderful gift to anyone who writes and needs readers. I would encourage anyone looking for criticism or encouragement to post to newsgroups, publish on the Web, send emails.
January 14th, 2010
Introduction (Second Paper)
Born and raised in the suburbs outside of Buffalo, he managed to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT by writing a novella called Goliath for his Bachelor’s thesis.
In June of 1998, the Foolishness Press published a collection of his poems called Displaced.
Wallow is his second book. Wallow is a collection of stories and poems depicting the plight of Steve Neboj, a self-obsessed romantic in the self-induced exile of Prague’s expat community.
Newly divorced from both his ex-wife and his yuppie-dom on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Steve finds himself broke, alone, and smack dab in the middle of his quarter-life crisis. To get through it, he is going to have to give up a few of his favorite delusions. Before he does, he takes a moment to bask in the cold sun of Self.
Born and raised in the suburbs outside of Buffalo, he managed to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT by writing a novella called Goliath for his Bachelor’s thesis.
In June of 1998, the Foolishness Press published a collection of his poems called Displaced.
Wallow is his second book. Wallow is a collection of stories and poems depicting the plight of Steve Neboj, a self-obsessed romantic in the self-induced exile of Prague’s expat community.
Newly divorced from both his ex-wife and his yuppie-dom on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Steve finds himself broke, alone, and smack dab in the middle of his quarter-life crisis. To get through it, he is going to have to give up a few of his favorite delusions. Before he does, he takes a moment to bask in the cold sun of Self.
November 2nd, 2009
Weblography
November 2nd, 2009
Conclusion
I was very pleased to investigate the information about Mervyn Peake from the Chronology pespective. This author turned out to be a genius of his times. He never limited himself at being only a novellist or only an artist. I think he was a wonderful personality beacause he managed to be a good father, good husband and a genius in his work.
Mervyn Peake was a great artist; we can judge about this from his self-portraits and from his works as a war artist (Dying girl, 1945). As an illustrator, he started his work in 1940. He had some amazing works like :Life in Death, The ancient mariner, The ship’s crew. As a novelist he got famous with his intriguing trilogy Gormenghast. Peake also was a prolific poet. He published 4 collections of poems. He even wrote nonsense verse like Book of nonsense.
While doing my investigation I´ve discovered a very interesting website that discusses Peake´s writing. The author presents us an analysis to The Titus Groan Novels.
I also found out that he had the Parkinson Syndrome and that there were made some kind of “The Parkinson’s Disease Society Mervyn Peake Awards”. The PDS Mervyn Peake Awards are open to anyone with Parkinson’s living in the UK. The Awards recognises the talents of those affected by Parkinson’s in three categories: poetry, art and photography.
Mervyn Peake remains a fascinating, timeless artist for future generations to discover. At the heart of his work is a conviction, simplicity and love of life a world away from the plethora of 20th century writers concerned principly with their own cleverness and fame. Peake’s concerns were to reflect our world using his idosyncratic imagination. In doing so he created a beautifully grotesque world of his own which never falters or strays, which unfolds with exhilaration and a child-like wonder of being alive.
November 2nd, 2009
Chronology
- 1911 – Born July 9th in the hill town of Kuling , Kiang-Hsi Province, China . The nearby mountain overlooking the plains of Ho was an inspiration for his novels. The younger son of Congregationalist missionary parents, most of his childhood was spent in Tientsin (Tianjin) south east of Peking ( Beijing ).
- 1914 – His first visit to England, where he stayed with relations at Poole, Dorset. During his twelve years in China he attended the Tientsin Grammar School
- 1923 – Moves back to England and lives at Wallington, in Surrey, where his father sets up a medical practice. Attended the then School for the Sons of Missionaries, now Eltham Collegiate School.
- 1929 – Left Eltham and briefly went to study at the Croydon School of Art before enrolling at the Royal Academy in December that year.
- 1931 – Has one of his paintings chosen for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
- 1932 – Designs costumes used for The Insect Play
- 1933 Following advice from one of his teachers at Eltham, decides to move to Sark in the Channel Islands where he lives for the next two years.
- 1935 – Moves back to London having exhibited his work on several occasions with The Sark Group, at galleries in London and in Paris. Begins teaching at the Westminster School of Art.
- 1936 – Meets Maeve Gilmore on her very first day at the art school.
- 1937 – Marries at St James’s, Spanish Place Central London, on 1st December
- 1938 – Has his first one-man show at the Calmann Gallery in London
- 1939 – His first book Captain Slaughterboard is published by Country Life
- 1940 – Moves from London to Sussex where School House is rented in the village of Warningcamp , near Arundel, in Sussex . His first child Sebastian is born. Begins writing Titus Groan and joins the Royal Artillery. In December Ride a Cock-Horse and other Nursery Rhymes is published.
- 1942 – Second son Fabian is born. Receives special dispensation from his commanding officer to continue writing his novel. Given the job of painting For Officers Only on the doors of portable wooden lavatories.
- 1942 – Leaves the Army
- 1945 – Visits Germany as war artist, commissioned by The Leader magazine and enters the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in June. Gathers ideas for a future collection of poems, and produces several drawings of the dying inmates.
- 1946 – Titus Groan is published by Eyre & Spottiswoode the manuscript having been read by Graham Greene who recommends it to the publisher who reads it over the weekend and immediately decides to publish.
- 1946 – The Peake family moves to Le Chalet in Sark , renting the large house from a local farmer. The previous occupant had been the commanding officer of the German occupation force.
- 1949 – Daughter Clare is born at the Le Chalet attended at the birth by Sister Kilfoyle, known to Mervyn as Sister Tinfoil. She, the nurse, is not amused.
- 1950 – Gormenghast is published to very good reviews.
- 1951 – Wins the Heinemann Prize for Literature for Gormenghast and The Glassblowers and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
- 1952 – Moves back to Wallington his childhood home.
- 1956 – Titus Groan adapted for BBC radio
- 1957 – The Wit to Woo performed at the Arts Theatre in London
- 1959 – Titus Alone published
- 1968 – Dies November 17th at a carehome run by his brother in law, at Burcot, near Oxford . He is buried in the churchyard of the 11th century St Mary the Virgin, at Burpham, near Arundel, together with his wife. In nearby graves lie his paternal grandparents, and together in another grave, his brother and sister in law.
November 2nd, 2009
Introduction
In this paper I will tell you about the events that took place in Mervyn Peake‘s life and when they happened. It’s surprising how the child of two missionary parents, that was borned in the Beijing and spent the most part of his childhood there, got to be a very good artist, novellist, illustrator and poet at the same time.
At the age of 18 he enrolled at the Royal Academy. There started his life as an artist. Shortly after that, one of his paintings was chosen for an exhibition. In another few years his works were exhibited in London and Paris galleries. Then he began teaching at the Westminster School of Arts. In 1938 he had his first one-man show at the Calmann Gallery in London. Next year the publishing house “Country Life” published his first book Captain Slaughterboard. Before he wrote “the Titus books,” as he called them, Mervyn Peake was a noted illustrator of classic children’s books including Treasure Island and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1946. His in-depth study of renowned illustrators (including William Hogarth, George Cruikshank, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, Gustave Doré, and Francisco de Goya) served as the foundation for his own work. His illustrations are now highly sought after. In 1946 it published the first part of his famous trilogy Gormenghast – Titus Groan. In 4 years was published the second part – Gomernghast. And finally, after 9 years the last part was published – Titus alone. Peake also wrote horror novellas, like Boy in darkness. He had published a great deal of books and also had illustrated a very big part of them.
Peake wrote and struggled to produce a play, The Wit to Woo, which opened in 1957, but ran for only a brief time. This undertaking presaged a rapid decline in Peake’s health.
After 11 years this prolific personality passed away in Burcot, near Oxford.
