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Hyperlepis - a secret weapon of hypertext rhetoric

Published: 10 September 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Hypertext offers a distanced perspective on technology and communication. On the level of style, for example, the link can be seen as modern punctuation mark [15]. On the level of narrative design, the link functions as a logical engine of interaction in computer games and elsewhere [1]. On the level of social discourse, the link serves as a tool for expressing individual freedom [7]. Hyperlepsis—a multi-level trope introduced in this article, found in interactive fiction (IF), hypertext fiction and ambient literature for smartphones, combines grammar, style, and discourse within a single rhetorical gesture. As such, hyperlepsis can be a useful descriptive category for evaluating the effectiveness of interactive rhetorics across all digital forms. It renders early hypertext fiction as a reservoir of artistic ingenuity and a field for creative intelligence. As a trope from the same group as metalepsis it contributes to the reflection on embodied, material tropes – "sign-tool-objects" – as subordinate tools of immersion, rather than disruption and metafictional intrusion. Finally, for preservationists and translators, the presence of hyperlepsis can be a crucial indicator about components of the original work that cannot be lost during migration from source to target or during reconstruction.

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cover image ACM Conferences
HT '24: Proceedings of the 35th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media
September 2024
415 pages
ISBN:9798400705953
DOI:10.1145/3648188
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Published: 10 September 2024

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Author Tags

  1. Creativity
  2. Hyperlepsis
  3. Hypertext fiction
  4. Hypertext rhetoric
  5. Metalepsis
  6. Poetics

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