![\"Living](\"http:\/\/gantercourses.net\/ecyclopedia\/files\/2013\/03\/Living-Will.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDescription:<\/strong> Commentary:<\/strong> Author Biography:<\/strong> Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n Hayles, N. Katherine. \u201cPrint Is Flat, Code Is Deep: The Importance of Media-Specific Marino, Mark C. \u201cLiving Will.\u201d Spring Gun Press, 2012. Web. 21 March 2013.<\/p>\n
\nThis piece of electronic literature is a story-game fiction. It is an interactive
\nexperience that uses JavaScript to manipulate the text where the reader gets to
\nclick and choose certain words to move the story forward. The work is presented
\nas the living will and testament of E.R. Millhouse, and makes the reader act as
\nthe controlling executor, beneficiary, and heir. Each word that the reader clicks
\ntriggers a text command on the screen that influences the direction in which the will
\nproceeds. The interactivity and participation of the reader is essential to this work
\nof electronic literature because the story will not go on if the text is not actually
\nprompted to do so. The sense of game play comes in as the reader will soon realize
\nthat the story can get better or worse depending on which word he or she clicks. The
\nuncertainty of where the story is going adds mystery and excitement, which makes
\nthe whole reading experience quite interesting.<\/p>\n
\nThis work of electronic literature is interesting because it uses electronic
\nhypertexts, which make it a navigable piece. As N. Katherine Hayles states, \u201cthey
\npresent to the user a visual interface that must be navigated through choices the
\nuser makes to progress through the hypertext; and they are encoded on multiple
\nlevels that the user can access using the appropriate software, for example, by
\nviewing the source code of a network browser as well as the surface text. As a result
\nof its construction as a navigable space, electronic hypertext is intrinsically more
\ninvolved with issues of mapping and navigation than are most print texts\u201d (Hayles,
\nPrint Is Flat, Code Is Deep: The Importance of Media-Specific Analysis\u201d). Living Will<\/i>
\nis a perfect example of how electronic literature goes beyond the limits of what
\nprinted text can do. When a reader is presented with a printed book, the number of
\npages available can be visibly seen. However, electronic hypertext lets the reader
\nnavigate through a piece of work where there is no clear finish line and this makes
\nthe experience more thrilling. Printed texts enable readers to physically turn back
\nthe pages if they did not like the path they chose. However, electronic stories like
\nLiving Will<\/i>, leave readers with no choice but to move onwards with the story until it
\nis finished, regardless of being presented with desirable or undesirable outcomes.
\nThis encourages readers to be more actively engaged in the story as the fate of the
\nmain character is in their hands and there is no option of turning back unless they
\nchoose to restart from the beginning.<\/p>\n
\nMark C. Marino is an experienced writer and scholar of electronic literature. He
\nlives in Los Angeles, California and teaches at the University of Southern California.
\nAdditionally, he is the Director of Communication of the Electronic Literature
\nOrganization and is the editor of Bunk Magazine. He has produced other creative
\nworks of electronic literature, including one he co-authored with nine other people
\ncalled 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10<\/i>. Living Will<\/i> is in the process
\nof being translated into French for an electronic literature organization called
\nbleuOrange Revue. His research specialties include electronic literature, computers
\nand composition, game studies, critical studies, and software studies.<\/p>\n
\nAnalysis.\u201d Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics (2004): p. 83. Web. 21
\nMarch 2013.<\/p>\n