Metaphoric networks in 'Lexia to perplexia'

Abstract

Is computation altering how humans conceive of themselves and their relations to others? In Talan Memmott's literary hypertext Lexia to perplexia, subjectivity is the product of recursive cycles between humans and intelligent machines. To develop this vision, Memmott uses a variety of techniques, including an idiosyncratic pseudo-language comprised of coding expressions combined with English words, classical myths rewritten using technological terms and images, and screen designs that invite the reader to understand herself as a permeable membrane through which information flows. A prominent feature of screen design is occluded text–words and symbols overwritten with other text so that they are only partially visible. This strategy serves to remind the reader that she is not the only parser of this text; the machine also parses it. In contrast to the partial reading available to the human reader, for the machine all the layers of code are operationally coherent and functionally clear. In this context reading becomes a cyborg activity, a practice that involves both human and non-human cognisers.