Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson

Yesterday I had the pleasure of travelling through Shelly Jackson's "Patchwork Girl." To start, this work fits perfectly together - Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is a great work to base this work on. She explains to us that her work of electronic literature is a type of Frankenstein; it is put together by some outside force. There is a general pattern - Jackson's programming is like the basic human form Victor F. has to work with. We are Prof. Frankenstein haphazardly putting together a piece of art with little remembrance of the past and no clue as to the future. The links on the page are the bones and nerves Victor F. creates his masterpiece with. I love the works concept and image. This really is a great work to introduce anyone to Electronic Literature. Being able to make the connections to the novel really helps me helps me understand the genre.

Throughout the piece I felt Walt Whitman's presence. She writes, "You will all be apart of me" and you can easily add, "From prostitute to president" in Whitman style. The connections from page to page are like his "gossamer thread[s]" "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them." The web of pages stretches in all directions and while in the middle of it there seems to be no end. I have only gone through it once but it seems that new start will lead in a new direction - something Whitman would have loved.

Throughout my reading, questions abounded in my mind. The prevalent thought was "Is it Linear?" I could not grasp whether or not there was a specific way to go. I seemed to exhaust the options but in retrospect I don't think I did. The next question would be "Is it a different story every time?" and I guess it could be. I liked to think that the different readings do make up a greater body of text. Just like the monster is thrown together haphazardly we seem to travel through the prose just as randomly. And I think the different readings represent the newly acquired body parts the monster adopts - like the foot she tears off a thief.

About an hour in to the adventure you wonder, "Is there an ending?" I remember finishing the text, but I don't really remember the ending. I feel she left the end unremarkable so that we would remember the travel more. In the middle you feel lost - you don't have a page number for reference and you don't know where you are. There could be an end, but you can't see it. It is definitely not linear. Just as this female Frankenstein is a complicated jumble of parts, Jackson's work is a puzzle piece with endless possibilities.