Twisty
Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive
Fiction
by Nick Montfort
The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003
286 pp., illus., 2 b/w. Trade: $29.95
ISBN: 0-262-13436-5.
Reviewed by Dene Grigar
Texas Womans University
dgrigar@twu.edu
"We are standing at the beginning of a
new fusion of technology and literature."
Gary McGath, qtd. In Montfort, 228
Many of us are still waiting for a future
of electronic literature that proves McGaths
words correct, for twenty years after
they were spoken Nick Montfort in his
book, Twisty Little Passages, reminds
us that little, if any, of his "predictions"
have come true. This fact may underlie
the presence of wistful hopefulness that
permeates Montforts tome. But if
anything can infuse energy into the art,
it is this careful and exciting study
of interactive fiction (IF).
Defined as "text game," "text adventure,"
a "simulated world," work that
"react[s] to input meaningfully," and
a work that "explicitly (authors
emphasis) call[s] upon the reader to interact
. . . by means of queries or replies"
(vii-viii, 8), IF constitutes a specific
genre of electronic literature whose genesis
Montfort traces to the ancient riddle.
Much is riding on establishing a connection
between IF to the past since many traditional
literature theorists devote no attention
to it.
The title of the book is borrowed from
the well-known description of the terrain
of a maze found in the game, Adventure
(90). Lest anyone try to ignore the influence
of IF upon contemporary culture, consider
this fact: "Twisty little passages" became
the way in which Tim Berners-Lee envisioned
the "hyper-routes" of his early iteration
of the WWW, bringing the conceptual framework
of IF to bear upon the development of
the Web (225). Not a shabby legacy for
gamers to boast of.
This reference to the Web represents only
one reason among many why Montforts
book is necessary for academics to read,
for it raises consciousness about IFs
importance in our culture. For those involved
in games, it reasserts the name of the
genre, lost in Electronic Literature Organizations
move to organize the many genres of electronic
literature into a succinct list of eight
categories. Finally, for all of us it
fleshes out "an approach" toward a "richer
experience" for engagement with IF(xi)
in that it "describe[s] some of the intellectual
history of the form and its relationship
to other literary and gaming forms, and
to computing and other computer programs,
while critically examining a representative
selection of important works and describing
their interrelationships" (5).
The history of IF the book provides, beginning
with its link to riddles, which he defines
widely as "literary and folk texts and
utterances" (38) like that of The Exeter
Book and kennings (56); literary machines
of the middle ages and beyond, like Ramon
Llulls Ars Generalis Ultima
and Ars Breva dated 1274 CE, the
I Ching, and Ted Nelsons Labyrinth
(72-3); role-playing games, like Dungeons
and Dragons; and, finally, adventure
games like SHRDLU, Adventure,
and Zork, figures as one
of the books many strengths.
Others include the books many tables,
figures, and resources. The list of IF
works and their creators reveals, for
instance, the influence of Cambridge and
the Acheron system upon IF (116), and
the list of thirty-five "canonical" works
from Infocom, the variety of themes and
plots reflected in it (122-4). In the
same token, the 150 primary works found
in the Works Cited demonstrate yet another
example of Montforts careful research
into the IF genre.
Since IF is classified as a form of electronic
literature and Montfort discusses its
narrative and literary aspects, helpful
it would have been if he could have provided
a working definition of literature since
traditionalists who come across the book
may wonder about it. To be honest, those
who teach electronic literature wonder
about it too, so getting the perspective
of one who actively creates it and critiques
it could go far in helping to make the
case of its connection to literature.
Some other issues may bother a few readers.
Terms unfamiliar like "metalepsis" and
"dyslepsis" are left undefined (138),
and some claims are not substantiated,
like his assertion that A Mind Forever
Voyaging is "one of the preeminent
works of computer literature" (156). This
claim very well may be true, but this
reviewer wants to know why Montfort holds
that opinion and what criteria he bases
his views on.
Twisty Little Passages is the first
book to devote complete attention to the
study of one particular genre of electronic
literature, and one hopes it is not the
last. Such a book is timely, much needed,
and greatly appreciated by this reviewer
for its depth and scope.