A nice thing about this hypertext is the way Ersinghaus uses minor characters to reinforce a character, an episode, a question that remains unanswered. By following some of the links within a textbox, we are provided some conversation that took place (?) in an unknown space of time that refers back to a thread we are following.
For example, when Ham and Pen meet again, we get advice-like discussion from Cervantes, Maria of the Mountains, Ernest, and both Ham and Pen that adds meaning to the meeting that we wouldn’t quite see otherwise had we followed whatever linearity Ersinghaus allows. This develops an acceptance of the timelessness of the story. Even as Ham’s youth comes up again and again in his pursuit of some sense of truth, between that time is a block of unknown space, and after it comes another that we may or may not ever get to enter.
Rather fitting though, this idea of missing some pieces, fragments of time, for it mimics Ham’s own situation.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology