Narrativity

Narrativity is one of the most difficult qualities of electronic literature to theorize. On the one hand, readers clearly have narrative experiences with electronic texts—​ from text-​ centric Storyspace hypertext fictions through commercial video games. On the other hand, many of the qualities that we value in electronic textuality, such as the variable way in which features of these texts are encountered by readers, work against traditional narrative coherence. Marie-​ Laure Ryan (2006: 196) speaks for many when she writes that “the root of the conflict between narrative design and interactivity (or gameplay) lies in the difficulty of integrating the bottom-​ up input of the player within the top-​ down structure of a narrative script.” The concept of narrativity itself has undergone significant rethinking in recent years, and as a result narratology offers more sophisticated ways of talking about how stories can appear in electronic texts than classical narrative models allowed. Before turning to particular features of electronic literature, let me begin with a basic history of the concept and identify key issues.
(source: the first paragraph of the chapter)