By: Katherine Schade    

  The electronic literature work Faith by Robert Kendall is a narrative work that involves different layers of a single poem with multiple layers of technology such as sound, color, music, and animations that add to the poem. The work starts with the title at the top of the page as multiple “logic” words fall from the top of the screen and bounce off of the title of “Faith” and then disappear into the blank page below. Then, four words make their way onto the page in a seemingly odd spacing with an ellipses at the bottom of the page for the reader to click. The literature goes on in this style until the whole page is filled with a complete poem. After the last click by the reader, all but four words fall to the bottom of the screen in a heaping pile. The title then falls on top of the pile of words and the screen reads “just to sum up: Faith” (Kendall).

The work involves limited interactivity because it is compiled of five slides in which each slide represents the same poem with added words as the reader clicks through the story. Faith, as seen by the title, is a narrative that fits the inspirational and thought provoking genre of literature. The design and mechanics of the narrative play into the genre by limiting the ways in which the viewer can change their own experience physically. However, due to the message of the importance of faith over logic and themes of exploration expressed in Faith, every person has a different experience when going through the poem. Author, Robert Kendall, creates the perfect opportunity for the reader to explore the influence of electronic literature, explore themselves and their values, and explore the world around them and what values they can see in said world.