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Rating: 
Summary: From Text to Hypertext
Review: Decentering the subject in fiction, film, the visual arts and electronic media. By Silvio Gaggi, Professor of Humanities at the University of South Florida.In postmodern writing, the subject ?the self is something which is unstable, fragmented and decentered. Silvio Gaggi examines this phenomena by analyzing different media in premodern, modern and postmodern eras. Gaggi choses several examples to do that. The subjects eye First example is a painting from Jan van Eyck called the Wedding of Arnolfini 1434. The painting depicts a scene of a per fidem marriage. Per Fidem marriage is describing a celebration, in which two people are giving the promise just in the presence of god and no other authorities. This painting can be seen as a certificate depicting the per fide marriage. -A kind of photographic contract. Some hints are given in the painting. The detailing of a mirror at the back wall shows the location, which would be occupied by us, the viewers of the painting. There we see two persons standing just as witnesses would do. Gaggi assumes it might be the artist himself, who states his presence visually plus with his signature just besides the mirror. Another example is a Chapel fresco of Perugino, Giving the keys to St. Peter. Like the previous example it it shows a contract. In the foreground we see Jesus handing over the keys of heaven and earth to Peter. What is remarkable here is the splitting into several scenes depicting Jesus. Fragmenting Jesus into several scenes, which are situated at the same place, but at different times. The decentering is also the main theme in the next example, which marks the beginning cubistic era of Picasso. Picasso decentres both the viewing and the represented subject. By using cubistic elements, he flattens the subject, and distorts space. -The flattened Subject The viewer becomes part of the image ?and is questioning it at the same moment. The viewer is drawn into the painting and feels uneasy at the same time. Quote: The three-dimensional space is effective but inconsistent, suggesting a coherent viewing subject but simultaniously fracturing and decentering that subject. Gaggi than uses an example of photography made by Barbara Kruger, You are not yourself to discuss the gender of the subject. The photograph depicts a scattered image of a face of a woman, like a broken mirror. The fact that there is a hole in the mirror suggests that it was scattered by a bullet. By analyzing the bullet and the obvious gun involved in that shooting, he investigates the gender of the subject. Gun equals phallus. -the Gendered subject In photographs by Cindy Sherman, the decentering and fragmenting of the subject is put a step further. She always uses herself as the depicted motive, mixing the viewer`s viewpoint with the depicted motive. Another interesting art-form was developed by the Mike and Doug Stern. The twins use their obvious relation in their form of art. Several images are shown, which play with the double subject. Again, the status quo of the subject, the self is decentered and fragmented. The subject of Discourse Also in literature there are examples, which deal with the decentering of the subject. Gaggi mentiones The Heart of Darkness (1902), As I lay Dying (Faulkner 1930), If on a winters night a traveler ( Italo calvino 1979), where the subject is being played with. The subject is not a person, but more a fluid, changing status. Sometimes we are the subject, sometimes the narrator. Sometimes even a third person is telling the story from its point of view. Time and place changes to confront the reader with different viewpoints, sometimes involved in the story, sometimes just as a viewer. The moving subject From static imagery examples Gaggi chooses film to discuss the decentering. In movies there is a long tradition to play with the self decentering and fragmenting it. As examples he uses The Stunt Man (1980) by Richard Rush Francis Ford Coppolas One from the heart(1982) and Robert Altmans The Player (1992), He introduces the term hyperrealism, which describes the reality in a film which depicts reality through the eye of the camera. Example The Player: It is created mixing real situations with a film set-up. Some actors play themselves, some at the same moment play roles. The story contains a story, which is the story itself. Where does it lead to? Why is he investigating that? Hyperrealities and Hypertexts After investigating the change of a subject in different eras and media, Gaggi draws a line to hypertext. The topic of decentering and fragmenting the subject leads to the discussion of hypertext and hyperrealities. Here also the subject is decentered, and the storyline is not linear. So what is hypertext? Quote: In a fully developed hypertextual system, texts to which one moves are also networked to their own references and allusions. In the end, what results is a complex and interconnected network of nodes and links. The reader enters at any node and chooses any path through and about the network. Gaggi refers in this discussion to textual networks like the In Memoriam project, developed at the Brown University. Another Quote: Thus the complexity of hypertext and the inability of the subject to conceptualize a vision of the whole ?has s subversive effect on the navigating subject? Hypertext is discussed as a challenging and also demanding way of experiencing literature. It has solid problems such as intellectual property and such that readers have to put an effort in order to get the story. But in turn there is also a great potential to use digital media to enrich the experiece of literature. People can actually decide. One could build up their own storyboard, or change the story the next day. It also has potential to be used in teams, similar to MOOs and MUDs. Even if some links are outdated due to the enormous demand for graphics and multimedia on the web, there is still a high potential behind it.
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