HYPERTEXT: It’s Natural!
Noticed the ivy on the back patio this morning and thought of how it mimicked hypertext threads of narrative. Clockwise, from top left, the vines run parallel to each other, all streaming towards a goal. In the top right, there is the obvious split-off of story trail by this group into three different directions. Bottom right is the recalcitrant loner who, perhaps allergic to stone, prefers to employ the woody stems of the evergreen where he, and he alone, climbs up to the top and surveys the arena as if, by magical realism, he is the most normal of ivy. In the bottom left, we have a group that’s energetic and on the prowl. A story that by choice may climb, crawl, split steps in its advance towards a conclusion.
Then of course it dawned on me; ivy is not following hypertextual narrative process, but rather, hypertext is an example of a process that is naturally occurring in nature.
Okay, so maybe this is merely one of those “susan” moments.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology