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30th Anniversary Celebration of Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story
hosted by the Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver

Since its release in 1987 Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story has been the subject of many scholarly essays and critical reviews. Documented, below, are influential works that helped to shape the discourse surrounding the novel and, so, are important for further study of its reception, impact, and lasting legacy. For a fuller bibliography, see the entry for afternoon, a story at ELMCIP.net. Also included are documents that may help those who wish to pursue further study of this work.

Writings by the Author Scholarship Reviews Documents

Writings by the Author

Joyce, Michael. Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

---. Othermindedness: The Emergence of Network Culture. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000.

---. "Siren Shapes: Exploratory and Constructive Hypertexts." Academic Computing 3 (4): 10-14, 37-42.

Scholarship

Aarseth, Espen. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Barnet, Belinda. Memory Machines: The Evolution of Hypertext. NY, NY: Anthem, 2014.

Bell, Alice, Astrid Ensslin, and Hans Kristian Rustad. Analyzing Digital Fiction. NY, NY: Routledge Press, 2014.

Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991.

Douglas, J Yellowlees. The End of Books—Or Books Without End: Reading Interactive Narratives. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000.

---. "'How Do I Stop This Thing?': Closure and Indeterminacy in Interactive Narratives." Hyper / Text / Theory. Ed. George P. Landow. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. 159-188.

Engberg, Maria. "Born Digital: Writing Poetry in the Age of New Media." PhD Dissertation. Uppsala University, 2007.

Ensslin, Astrid. Canonizing Hypertext: Explorations and Constructions. NY, NY: Continuum, 2007. 69-74.

Harpold, Terence. "Conclusions." Hyper / Text / Theory. Ed. George P. Landow. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. 189-222.

---. Exfoliations: Reading Machines and the Upgrade Path. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, 2009. 175-208.

Hayles, N. Katherine. Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008.

Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. "Editing the Interface: Textual Studies and First Generation Electronic Objects." Text 14 (2002): 15-51.

---. Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.

Moulthrop, Stuart. "Traveling in the Breakdown Lane: A Principle of Resistance for Hypertext." Mosiac: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 28.4, 1995. 55-77.

Murray, Janet. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. NY, NY: The Free Press, 1997.

Ryan, Marie-Laure. Avatars of Story. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, 2006. 126-147.

---. "Piecing together and tearing apart: finding the story in afternoon." Reading Hypertext. Ed. Mark Bernstein and Diane Greco. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, Inc., 21-34.

Reviews

Goldstein, Harry. "Review of afternoon, a story." Utne Reader, March-April, 1994, pp. 131-132.

Grant, Richard. "Never the Same Text Twice." Washington Post Book World, July 11, 1993. 8-9.

McCorduck. Pamela. Whole Earth Review. No. 70 Spring 1991: 101.

Documents

"A Comparison of Six Editions of Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story"
This comparison was undertaken by Dene Grigar in preparation for the exhibition and event, "An Afternoon with afternoon." Using vintage computers from her lab and original copies of the novel, she conducts a reading of the work across the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Editions, tracking structural differences among them.

"Editions of afternoon, a story At-A-Glance"
This document, created by Dene Grigar in preparation for the exhibition, provides a detailed yet concise overview of the differences among the 13 editions of Michael Joyce's afternoon, a story.