Alger’s idea that the gamist/narrativist dichotomy is useful for those playing games rather than those designing or theorizing about games, evokes Stanley Fish’s notion that interpretive communities determines one’s reading of a text in Is There a Text in This Class? Alger’s idea that the gamist/narrativist dichotomy is useful for those playing games rather than those designing or theorizing about games, evokes Stanley Fish’s notion that interpretive communities determines one’s reading of a text in Is There a Text in This Class?

Leavenworth’s allusion to “forbidden” and “life-altering” knowledge evokes Goethe’s Faust, a text Marjorie Perloff dwells on in her reivew of Franco Moretti. Leavenworth’s allusion to “forbidden” and “life-altering” knowledge evokes Goethe’s Faust, a text Marjorie Perloff dwells on in her reivew of Franco Moretti.

Translating dice-roll data into a story is more an act of composition than translation, which is not to say that translation is a simple matter. George Steiner, in After Babel, has argued that translation is not only difficult , but well nigh impossible. The translation that Hindmarch describes is closer to a young Ronald Reagan’s play-by-play radio broadcasts of baseball games he couldn’t actually see. Translating dice-roll data into a story is more an act of composition than translation, which is not to say that translation is a simple matter. George Steiner, in After Babel, has argued that… continue

The participation of the reader in a text has been a lively topic in literary theory for some time. While Hindmarch contends that “[a] novel is already complete when it is read,” many theorists would take issue with this claim. Perhaps the most fully developed manifestation of this position has been formulated with regard to poetry, rather than fiction, by L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets like Charles Bernstein and Lyn Hejinian. The participation of the reader in a text has been a lively topic in literary theory for some time. While Hindmarch contends that “[a] novel is already complete when it is read,”… continue

R. M. Berry’s recent novel Frank offers a variation on Mary Shelly’s overreacher ur-text Frankenstein. ebr contains a debate between Joseph Tabbi and Berry inspired by Tabbi’s review of the novel. R. M. Berry’s recent novel Frank offers a variation on Mary Shelly’s overreacher ur-text Frankenstein. ebr contains a debate between Joseph Tabbi and Berry inspired by Tabbi’s review of the novel.

In his contribution to Second Person Greg Costikyan imagines how to move beyond the beads-on-a-string model of game play. In his contribution to Second Person Greg Costikyan imagines how to move beyond the beads-on-a-string model of game play.

Costikyan’s contention that some games aren’t enhanced by the addition of story relies on the difference between play and narrative. In other words games don’t necessarily require stories. Costikyan’s contention that some games aren’t enhanced by the addition of story relies on the difference between play and narrative. In other words games don’t necessarily require stories. Walter Benn Michaels, in The Shape of the Signifier, argues that games also don’t rely on the subject position of the players, or on their beliefs: “In chess, for example, the person playing white doesn’t think the person… continue

The competition between narrative and play in games resembles modernism’s attempt to exclude narrative from painting as described by Brian McHale in “What Was Postmodernism?”

McHale’s reference to R.E.M.’s angel imagery in the “Losing My Religion” video is spot on, but the band is a complicated touchstone in McHale’s discussion of the persistence of narrative in the postmodern period. Larry McCaffery in his essay for ebr, “White Noise/White Heat, or Why the Postmodern Turn in Rock Music Led to Nothing but Road,” argues that R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe [not to mention Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Captain Beefheart, and Brian Eno] takes a sculptural, as opposed to narrative, approach to songwriting.

Eugene Thacker, likewise, suggests that Kac’s work has little to do with biological life or the life sciences but is more about the practice of art as an emerging medium. Read the full review here. Eugene Thacker, likewise, suggests that Kac’s work has little to do with biological life or the life sciences but is more about the practice of art as an emerging medium. Read the full review here.