Overview

This piece by J.R. Carpenter is intriguing and captivating. It is a linear storyline about a summer love and the evolutions of a piece of bullet jewellery that symbolizes the love that blossomed between the two characters.  The storyline depicts various landscapes and the passage of time with each frame.  As stated by the Electronic Literature Organization, electronic literature refers to “works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or a networked computer”. The Orchard of Innumerable can be easily distinguished as a part of an e-lit archive as it utilizes the capabilities of a computer to create the final piece. Moreover, it is an interactive piece that allows the reader to follow and utilize the computer’s capabilities to navigate and move forth. It is a sweet story that intrigues the reader and can only be read through a computer medium; hence, it is digitally born.

Anyalsis

The Orchard of Innumerable had many beautiful passages describing the aging nature of a love story. This piece is deserving of being a part of the electronic literature archive because it contains the substance and attributes that are needed for a piece to be qualified as an electronic literature piece. It begins with the transfer of the bullet necklace and as the reader flips through the many frames, time passes and landscapes develop. Carpenter eases the reader through this process by visually dynamic descriptions of the difference in the landscapes. The background imagery also adds to the description and visual interpretation of the reader of the frames and its text.

The last frame is the one that is most captivating as the love story turns on its head and takes a climatic turn as the reality of life comes in. The bullet necklace that entrances the narrator towards the female character in the story loses it affect in the last frame. Although the bullet is a memorandum of sweet memories and a string that attached the two people, the bullet cannot entrance the narrator to keep with the “rot” in the black eyes of the female character. The bullet calls out and brings the author close to the female character wearing the necklace, but he is unable to refresh the wonderful moments. Instead, the author states that the eyes of the female lead him to disgust and detraction. Similarly, the bullet that held the two together became a metal bind that the narrator can taste in their teeth. The magic of the love that blossomed in the orchids came to an end. The bullet that grabs the author’s attention throughout the story is no longer enough to keep him connected to the female character; he is appalled by the ugliness within the female’s eyes.  A love story’s life is showcased and ended with the note that it is impossible to be attracted to a mesmerizing beauty if the inside is just “rot”.

Biography

J.R. Carpenter is a Canadian author who has also done work in making maps, zines, books, poems, fiction, non-fiction and non-linear hypermedia narratives. She studied Life Drawing and Anatomy at the Art Students’ League of New York.  In addition, she learned Fiber and Sculpture at Concordia University in Montreal where she acted as a President in the Board of Directors of OBORA which is an artist-run gallery and new media lab.

Since 1993, Carpenter has been using the Internet and computer technologies to create and experiment with texts. Moreover, her works have been showcased in several museums, galleries, conferences and festivals all around the world and are included in the Electronic Literature Collections.

Works Cited

Carpenter, J.R.. “The Orchard of Innumerable.” . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar 2013. <http://luckysoap.com/orchard/index.html>.

Carpenter, J.R.. “J. R. CARPENTER || Bio.” J. R. Carpenter || Luckysoap & Co.. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. <http://luckysoap.com/bio.html>.