The mystery of "lust"

ABSTRACT

Mark Bernstein has stated that there are no really good hypertext mysteries. This is a puzzling remark since reading hypertext often seems to require "detective work" on the part of the reader to first ferret out the clues/pieces of the work and then put them together in a reasonable order to form an understanding. While demonstrating a close reading of Mary Kim Arnold's hypertext story, "Lust," this essay explores how the concept of "mystery" applies to the act of reading hypertext and how that affects the role reader (now a "reader-detective") who must search both content nodes and pathways in order to bring cohesion and a sense of completeness to the reading experience. As a close reading, this essay looks at the characters and events described in "Lust" and finally stresses the need to consider the links and paths while reading the hypertext.