The Interview with Bill Bly about We Descend
This interview of Bill Bly, conducted by Dene Grigar and Stuart Moulthrop, took place on Friday, January 31, 2014 at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland as part of the Pathfinders project. The interview is divided into nine parts and provides insights into the development of the work.
Bly Interview, Part 1, "The Genesis"
This video clip shows Bly explaining the origins of We Descend. We learn that it generated in the 1980s from five words that came into his mind: "If this document is authentic." The work grapples, he says, with the question of authenticity, particularly that of digital data where information must be authenticated at multiple levels of production. At the time, Bly believed that the work would be a play with the first character to emerge was the scholar, but Bly struggled how to create the dialogue for it. He tells us that he learned about hypertext from reading Robert Coover's essay published in the New York Times, an experience that led him to write the authors listed in the article (Moulthrop, Nancy Kaplan, Michael Joyce and John McDaid) and develop We Descend as a hypertext novel.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 5:36 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 2, "Working with Storyspace"
This video clip shows Bly talking about his experience with Storyspace, the hypertext authoring program he used in developing We Descend. He argues that hypertext captures how we really make sense of books in the process of reading. We learn that he wrote the work in long passages and, then, decomposed the work into its hypertextual form, striving to be clear rather than "playful." He privileged the Storyspace Reader that provided a window of text over the page reader that provided a full screen of text. He also tells us that the evolution of technology of that period––that is, the larger screen real estate and color––impacted choices he made with his work.
Bly Interview, Part 2, "Working with Storyspace"
This video clip shows Bly talking about his experience with Storyspace, the hypertext authoring program he used in developing We Descend. He argues that hypertext captures how we really make sense of books in the process of reading. We learn that he wrote the work in long passages and, then, decomposed the work into its hypertextual form, striving to be clear rather than "playful." He privileged the Storyspace Reader that provided a window of text over the page reader that provided a full screen of text. He also tells us that the evolution of technology of that period––that is, the larger screen real estate and color––impacted choices he made with his work.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 7:12 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 3, "The Excavation Explained"
This video clip focuses on the visual metaphor that Bly used to structure We Descend––that is "excavation." Bly describes the complex layering of the work and explains the irony behind the title. The writers and literary traditions that influenced Bly, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Margaret Atwood, Neal Stephenson, and the gnostic tradition, are also discussed.
Bly Interview, Part 3, "The Excavation Explained"
This video clip focuses on the visual metaphor that Bly used to structure We Descend––that is "excavation." Bly describes the complex layering of the work and explains the irony behind the title. The writers and literary traditions that influenced Bly, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Margaret Atwood, Neal Stephenson, and the gnostic tradition, are also discussed.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 7:59 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 4, "Building the Characters"
This video clip presents the origins of the characters in the novel, notably Egderus. Bly reminds us that Egderus is the only character with a name, others are known by titles or were given names by others who came after in time. He took this approach because names have a quality that marks a person in a way that titles do not. He also reveals that after sending the work to the publisher, he felt that he had finally gained a good understanding of the hypertext environment.
Bly Interview, Part 4, "Building the Characters"
This video clip presents the origins of the characters in the novel, notably Egderus. Bly reminds us that Egderus is the only character with a name, others are known by titles or were given names by others who came after in time. He took this approach because names have a quality that marks a person in a way that titles do not. He also reveals that after sending the work to the publisher, he felt that he had finally gained a good understanding of the hypertext environment.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280x720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 5:38 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 5, "After We Descend"
Bly Interview, Part 5, "After We Descend"
This video file presents Bly's views on working with Eastgate Systems' Storyspace in Volume 1 and Tinderbox in Volume 2 and his early plans to recreate We Descend as a 3D version.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 6:48 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 6, "We Descend's Impact"
This video clip has Bly talking about his ambition to write a novel that could only be expressed as hypertext. The discussion moves quickly, however, into the various versions of both Volumes of We Descend in circulation and web version available since August 2013.
Bly Interview, Part 6, "We Descend's Impact"
This video clip has Bly talking about his ambition to write a novel that could only be expressed as hypertext. The discussion moves quickly, however, into the various versions of both Volumes of We Descend in circulation and web version available since August 2013.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 10:29 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 7, "The Question of Longevity"
Bly Interview, Part 7, "The Question of Longevity"
This video clip provides Bly's view of his work's legacy. He talks about seeing his work from "a great distance of time," one that is many generations "hence." Also discussed are the five layers that the story presents: the old one, Egderus, the Scholar, the author, and the archived work.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 5:11 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 8, "E-Lit Artifacts"
Bly Interview, Part 8, "E-Lit Artifacts"
This video clip shows Bly walking through various artifacts found in The Bly Collection, such as software and catalogs. He gives a good explanation of the features of Storyspace and Tinderbox and an explanation of how they work.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 12:06 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.
Bly Interview, Part 9, "E-Lit Artifacts Continued"
Bly Interview, Part 9, "E-Lit Artifacts Continued"
This video clip continues with a walk through of the various artifacts found in The Bly collection, including items from CyberMountain, documents, and floppy disks.
The video file is saved as a high-quality 1280 x 720, compressed MPEG-4 Movie (.mp4) H.264 codec, with a high-quality audio track (.aac). The duration is 12:24 minutes, streaming from the Pathfinders Vimeo video-sharing site.