1.
Indexes as
Hypertext
Tesserae to tablets...
...uncovering the future
5 September 2014
Simon Rowberry
Simon.Rowberry@winchester.ac.uk
@sprowberry

2.
“the sense of
‘hyper-’ [in
hypertext]
connotes
extension and
generality”

3.
Literary Hypertext

4.
Hypertext needs structure
Indexes can provide this!

5.
“In one sense the index defines other
books that could be constructed from the
materials at hand, other themes that the
author could have formed into an
analytical narrative, and so invites the
reader to read the book in alternative
ways. An index transforms a book from a
tree into a network, offering multiplicity in
place of a single order of paragraphs and
pages” (Jay David Bolter)

6.
Indexing & Power

7.
Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire(1962)
• A poet & a madman in two realities:
New Wye & Zembla
• Parody of a scholarly edition or
detective fiction?
• Hypertext structure
Dramatis Personæ:
John Shade
Charles Kinbote
Jakob Gradus

8.
71
247
894

9.
Where does Pale Fire end?
OR

10.
А [a]
Б [b]
В [v]
Г [g]
Д [d]
Е [e]
Ё [yo]
Ж [zh]
З [z] ZEMBLA
И [i]
Й [j]
К [k]
Л [l]
М [m]
Н [n]
О [o]
П [p]
Р [r]
С [s]
Т [t]
У [u]
Ф [f]
Х [h]
Ц [cz]
Ч [ch]
Ш [sh]
Щ [shh]
Ъ [“]
Ы [y’]
Ь [‘]
Э [e’]
Ю [yu]
Я [ya] ORBICLE OF JASP

11.
• Line 558: “Terra the Fair, an orbicle of
jasp”
• Note: “The loveliest couplet in this
canto”
• Only behind: cell and box
• Other choices: Yaruga, Yaroslavskiy,
Janus, iamb, linguist, apple, buttocks

12.
Mark Danielewski, House of Leaves
(2000)
• A house much bigger on the inside
• A scholarly text with two protagonists
–Typographically ambitious
Dramatis Personæ:
Will Navidson
Zampanò
Johnny Truant

13.
iv-v
vii
319
376
379

14.
Ed.
• NOT IN INDEX:
134, 550-552, 586,
646-645, 650-656,
• ED. FOR EDITOR:
11, 16-17, 34, 46, 71,
86, 88, 100, 115, 122-
123, 126, 136, 152,
165, 596, 301, 305,
320, 331-332, 378,
381, 413, 480

15.
Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts
(2007) • Like Jaws, but with words
• Conceptual sharks
• Plays with the material page
• Unchapters and negative space
Dramatis Personæ:
Eric Sanderson
Scout
Dr Fidorus
Mycroft Ward

16.
33
64
158
247
267

17.
Subversive Indexing
PF: Shade, Sybil, S’s wife, passim.
RST: Code, Rule of four, █
Aames, Clio, (Gold Index only)
HoL: collagen . . . DNE [Does Not
Exist]

18.
Subversive Indexing in RST
Gold Index only:
Clio Aames; The First Eric
Sanderson; The Second Eric
Sanderson; Scout
Redacted:
Rule of Four Code;
Ludovician<Metavician; Mycroft
Ward

19.
Does Not Exist in HoL
• Aggressor
• Arterial
• Ballerina
• Bandage
• Buckles
• Bundle
• Buttress
• Canine
• Capricious
• Cartouche
• Claps
• Collagen
• Collector
• Condemn
• Confuse
• Copacetic
• Crab
• Custodian
• Dazzle
• Defenstration
• Dégueulasse
• Denounce
• Denunciation
• Detritus
• Diner
• Disclose
• Discombobula
ting
• Disintegrate
• Dispossess
• Dolphin
• Domus(black)
• Donkey
• Eject
etc

20.
All three tactics encourage the user to
search through the text.

21.
Feral
Indexing?

22.
Indexes and
Bookishness

23.
Reconfigure the Index

24.
Indexes as
Hypertext
Tesserae to tablets...
...uncovering the future
5 September 2014
Simon Rowberry
Simon.Rowberry@winchester.ac.uk
@sprowberry