E-Lit E-Cyclopedia
English 335: Capilano University
Mitchell Gelz
Description
Kate Pullinger and Chris Joseph’s Inanimate Alice is a visually-stunning, compelling, and immersive example of electronic literature. Written and directed by Pullinger as an electronic serial novel intended to capture the attention of young readers from the digital generation. This work contains an incredible depth of story that is expressed in a creative and functional way across a variety of multimedia platforms and over ten engrossing webisodes. Pullinger and Joseph (the digital artist) combine images, music, sound effects, puzzles, games and text seamlessly in the creation of this project. The blending of multimedia in Inanimate Alice is executed in an expert fashion that adds incredible gravity to the narrative. The interactive nature of the digital novel allows the audience to dynamically participate as Alice’s journey progresses further submerging them in the world that Pullinger and Joseph have created. The narrative begins in the first episode with eight-year old Alice isolated in the far-north of China. As the narrative progresses through nine more enthralling episodes set across the world we become more and more familiar with the deep malaise that Alice must overcome. The audience experiences and connects with Alice through her many trials, tribulations, and the eventual triumph of finding her place in the world as a renowned video game designer. The episodes are entertaining, and imaginative as stand-alone works but Pullinger’s project really resonates when the entire series is viewed in sequence. Inanimate Alice should be considered one of the best of its genre; a true masterpiece of traditional storytelling adapted to the digital landscape of the 21st century.
Commentary
N. Katherine Hayles an expert in the burgeoning field of electronic literature provides a framework for the genre in Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. In this text Hayles describes this emergent field of literature as one that “…can be understood as both partaking of literary tradition and introducing crucial transformations that redefine what literature is” (Hayles 3). Kate Pullinger’s Inanimate Alice is a pioneering work in this field that involves the essential elements of literary tradition and technological trailblazing that Hayles attributes to electronic literature. Pullinger work utilizes the power of a traditional text narrative with a variety of digital sights and sounds that create an experience for the audience far beyond what either aspect could contribute alone. In her attempt to define Electronic Literature Hayles asserts that Electronic Literature is “…generally considered to exclude print literature that has been digitized” (Hayles 3), and “…is by contrast “digital born,” a first-generation digital object created on a computer screen and (usually) meant to be read on a computer” (Hayles 3). Pullinger’s work resonates with the notion set forth by Hayles that Electronic Literature is meant to be produced and viewed in a digital format. Pullinger’s personal website explicitly states that Inanimate Alice was intended for the digital world from its conception to creation and uses a variety of multimedia to engage its audience. This digital approach allows Pullinger to take her work beyond the basic capabilities of printed text. By embracing and utilizing computer technology a deeper, more complex sensory experience is created for the audience than could ever be expressed through print. In this sense Inanimate Alice is a seminal work in the genre of electronic literature and is one that in the future may very well be considered an inspirational classic for writers and readers alike. Pullinger’s realized vision is one that compels readers to investigate their traditional definitions of literature. Furthermore, the multi-sensory experience that is Inanimate Alice is executed with such grace, elegance, and emotion that readers and critics alike will struggle not to sing its praises as both a narrative and a technological feat.
Author’s Biography
Kate Pullinger is an award-winning writer of fiction for both print and digital platforms. Her 2009 novel The Mistress of Nothing was awarded the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, perhaps Canada’s most prominent distinctions to be earned by a Canadian novelist. Pullinger also works as Professor of Creative Writing and New Media at Bath Spa University in the U.K. as well as privately mentoring emerging writers. She has been a prolific writer of novels including The Mistress of Nothing, A Little Stranger, Weird Sister, The Last Time I Saw Jane, Where Does Kissing End?, and When the Monster Dies not to mention a litany of short stories published in collections entitled My Life as a Girl in a Men’s Prison and Tiny Lies, and A Curious Dream: Collected Works. Furthermore, Pullinger has made an impressive foray into electronic literature with the digital publishing of the stunning serial novels Inanimate Alice, and Flight Paths: A networked Novel. Pullinger was born and raised in British Columbia and spent time as a copper mine worker in Canada’s north after dropping out of McGill University. A love of travelling carried her to London, England where she currently resides with her husband and two children.
Works Cited
Hayles, N. Katherine. Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008. Print.
Pullinger, Kate. “http://www.katepullinger.com/about/.” n.d. Kate Pullinger.com. Electronic. 21 March 2013.