Meta-Interpretation and Hypertext Fiction: A Critical Response

Traditional discourses upon literature havebeen predicated upon the ability to refer to atext that others may consult (Landow, 1994,p. 33). Texts that involve elements of feedbackand non-trivial decision-making on the part ofthe reader (Aarseth, 1997, p. 1) therefore presenta challenge to readers and critics alike. Sincea persuasive case has been made against acritical method that sets out to ``identify thetask of interpretation as a task of territorialexploration and territorial mastery' (Aarseth,p. 87), this paper proposes the use of readers inan empirically based approach to hypertextfiction. Meta-interpretation, a method thatcombines individual responses to a text,reading logs, screen recordings and limitedqualitative/quantitative analysis, and criticalinterpretation is outlined. By analysingreaders' responses it is possible to suggestboth the ways that textual elements may haveinfluenced or determined readers' choices andthe ways that readers' choices ``configure' thetext. The method thus addresses Espen Aarseth'sconcerns and illuminates interesting featuresof interactive processes in fictionalenvironments. The paper is divided into twoparts: the first part sketches outmeta-interpretation through consideration ofthe main problems confronting the literarycritic; the second part describes readingresearch aimed at generating data for theliterary critic.