Stitch Bitch: The Patchwork Girl

I must say compared to the title of other articles and books we’ve been assigned thus far, “Stitch Bitch” is definitely my favorite.

I really enjoyed the different approach that Shelley Jackson took in this article. Maybe that is because I identify with this type of writing style and it stimulates me to think more than something like “Hypertext is important to our digital society because blah, blah, blah…” The so-called “non-linear” structure of writing is one that I find challenging and thought-provoking. I believe her main point of this article was to convince the reader that there should not be any ending point to a non-linear piece of literature, at least in a philosophical sense.

“But I’m not sure closure is what we should be working towards, any more than a life well lived is one that hurtles without interruption toward a resounding death.” 

She encourages us to explore the idea that hypertext allows us to explore an un-ending idea. Things on the internet are constantly evolving, you can start on one page reading about Expressionism and seven pages later, you’re becoming an expert in the history of the Black Plague. There are no rules to hypertext, it exists for the purpose of infinitely expanding one’s knowledge. The novel, in it’s traditional form, follows a linear structure where there is one sole purpose to be achieved or taught by the end:

“It becomes harder and harder to imagine going anywhere but just where you’re going, and words increasingly mean just what they say.”

I agree with Jackson when she discusses the idea of “leaping” from piece to piece: “it’s the lines of traffic between the pieces that are worth attention.” It goes along with the idea that nothing is original, all ideas are just borrowed, resurfaced, or advanced.