This page is referenced by:

• 1 2017-10-31T17:11:46-07:00 Introduction 14 Our common theme and compiled works. plain 2017-11-19T11:40:29-08:00

  Our group, composed of Penelope Jankoski, Leah Fox, and Max Hewit, curated a collection of electronic literature that we believed shared the idea of identity as their core theme. The works we used were "12 Blue", "my body", and "The Brain Drawing the Bullet".  Although identity is a broad topic each of the three works is based on a defining sense of self or community, which can be in a physical or social identity, characterized by inner conflict and personality. Each work explores the concept in a different way, which works to create a new way of defining identity and the importance of a sense of self. The works were published over a large range of time: "my body" was published in 1997 by Shelley Jackson, "12 Blue" was published in 1996 by Michael Joyce, and "The Brain Drawing the Bullet" was published in 2014 by Allan Trotter.
              The works are diverse in the methods they use to discuss the core theme. “Twelve Blue” is told from a third person perspective, “The Brain Draws in the Bullet” is epistolary, and “My Body” is written in first person. The three works also discuss identity in very different fashions.  While “Twelve Blue” intertwines a sense of identity with a sense of community, “The Brain Draws in the Bullet” has the underlying theme of loss of identity, and “my body” discusses identity through physical realization and coming of age. These three works, though linked to the concept of identity, are each independent and unique.

  Within them all, form is pivotal. By breaking the text up into non-linear fragments, the author allows the reader to understand the stories in a new light. They cease to be the aristotelian narrative, with a beginning, middle, and end. They truly have no end. By incorporating layers of memories and revelations, each to be peeled back when the reader is ready, the works are continually transformed. They morph as the reader makes decisions and never reach a conclusion. This process goes hand in hand with the theme of identity. Though self-discovery is most prevalent in youth, humans are constantly engaging in change. Partners, occupations, environments, and opinions are very rarely constant and the combination of these things becomes more of a mass of memories than any sort of timeline. Michael Joyce, Allan Trotter, and Shelley Jackson experiment with this idea and allow their narratives the freedom to be discovered without the bounds of time.