"Carving in Possibilities"
By: Deena Larson
Literature and writing must be text to paper. It must
be read from left to right and line by line. This has been the predominant idea
regarding literature and the way it is viewed and read in the educational and
professional areas. But it is not the only way to view and read text or
literature. A new way of experiencing literature has been around for years now.
This new method of experiencing literature is known as Electronic Literature.
Electronic Literature has become popular in this electronic age. An age that
allows users to interact with the text or literature in an immersive way that
plain text does not. Electronic Literature permits the user to read or
experience the text with combinations of text, audio, visual, animation,
images, sounds, and within an electronic environment, rather than through text
in books.
Hence, no longer are books the primary way to read and
experience stories. Readers can experience stories or storytelling through the
combination of audio, images, animation, and texts. This combination of these
mediums allows the users or readers to interact with the stories in many ways.
For example, “Carving in Possibilities” by Deena Larson allows users or readers
to interact with a short flash piece. A piece which plays out like a movie but
lets the user or reader interact with the piece by clicking with the mouse
pointer onto the actual image of the piece. This clicking allows the piece to
change and brings about different options for the user and reader.
For instance, “Carving in Possibilities,” includes
information regarding the biblical story of “David and Goliath,” and the
construction of Michelangelo’s sculpture of “David.” In order to understand the
short flash piece better. The user or reader must delve into the background of
both stories. By reviewing the background information. The reader or user can
better understand the phrases or words within the short flash piece. The short
flash piece includes phrases and words around and above the blurry image of
Michelangelo’s face of the sculpture of “David.”
The image of the sculpture of “David” is blurry and as
the user or reader clicks around the image. The mouse passes over the phrases
and the words to clarify the image of the sculpture of “David.” The words or
phrases reveal information about the story of “David and Goliath” and the
information about the sculpture of Michelangelo’s “David.” But the information
is only relevant and understandable if the user or reader has researched the
background information on “David and Goliath” and Michelangelo’s sculpture of
“David.” Then as the user clicks over the words or phrases in the short flash
piece. The blurry face of Michelangelo’s “David” begins to become clearer and
clearer.
In essence, the short flash piece allows the reader or
user to become the actual sculptor of the piece. The reader or user is actually
sculpting away at the marble sculpture and creating the face of “David” as they
click from phrases to words. The phrases and words emerge from different sides
and angles. They appear in different texts, sizes, fonts, and colors on the
screen. This gives the reader or user the illusion of creating their own
“David” through their choice of words or phrases. The process of clicking
different words or phrases can be different every time the user or reader
interacts with the short flash piece. Yet the outcome of the sculpture is
always the same. At the end, the user, reader, or sculptor finishes by creating
the same face of Michelangelo’s “David.”
However; the process of interacting with the short
flash piece is fun and informational. The reader or user ends up learning about
the story of “David and Goliath,” and the story of the creation and sculpting
of Michelangelo’s sculpture of “David.” Additionally, the user and reader
experiences the feeling of creating an actual image through their interaction
with text in a completely different form than simply reading text on paper. The
reader or user is reading the text at the same time as interacting with the
text to sculpt the face of “David.” This is literature on a completely different
level. The literature is brought to life with the use of multiple mediums, and
interaction on the part of the user or reader.
This is one of the experiences created with the
interaction provided by Electronic Literature. This interaction has made it
possible for readers or users to make text come to life in more than one way.
For readers to feel like they can image and view the text on a multilevel platform
instead of linear. Therefore, “Carving in Possibilities” by Deena Larson gives
this experience to readers or users. The short flash piece brings to life the
actual feeling of sculpting a beautiful artistic marble sculpture like
Michelangelo’s “David” with the use of words or phrases, literature.
