Current Status and Formal System of Hypernarratives Created in Korea

Abstract

Hypernarrative, a kind of digital narrative, has various formal possibilities that can inherit, expand, and deepen the aesthetics of modern novels that have been accumulated for a long time. Nevertheless, the formation and differentiation of the genre of hyper narrative is still weak compared to game narratives, webtoons, and web novels. The enthusiasm for hyperfiction that took place in the West around 2000 did not lead to the establishment of genre conventions. In fact, early hyperfiction at the time was made in different forms for each work, and there was no formal commonality between them. It can be said that early hyperfiction did not have the comfort and familiarity of genre conventions at all. This paper aims to explore and present the formal system of hypernarratives that can be created in the current media environment and conditions. This is because I think this is a way to overcome the problem of non-genreization of early hyperfiction and activate the creation and acceptance of hypernarratives. To this end, this paper focuses on ‘Hannam University Hyper-narrative Creation Project’(HN2 project). Through this, I tried to check the current status of hypernarrative works created and shared in HN2 project, and to confirm the formal systemicity of hypernarratives commonly applied to these works. The research uses a method of comparing hypernarratives created in the HN2 Project in Korea with early hyperfictions created in the United States and Europe around the year 2000. There are many differences between the two in the use of the medium and the formal requirements and systems of the unit. The works of the Korean project creatively utilize the blog platform rather than a dedicated platform to minimize the burden of individual creators in terms of media utilization. It can be seen that the unit s formal system was created to best match the ontological nature of the unit, which operates like a sheet document.