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Chapter 2: A New Kind ofText?: Non-Linearity
2.1: Definitions ofthe Term Non-Linearity
"The new electronic literature breaks the bond oflinearity and stasis imposed by paper"
states Robert Kendall in his introductory essay to hypertext and hypertext literature
entitled "Writing for the New Millennium". "The concept of non-linearity {...) has
existed, but the tyranny oflinear progression ofthe physical text from page first to page
last has remained unbroken" argue Jane Douglas and Gordon Howell', and they are not
the only ones to define hypertext through non-linearity in negative opposition to the
linearity ofthe printed text. Nonlinearity as well as (Inter)activity, which is opposed to the
alleged passivity ofthe reader of a printed text (see chapter 3), are two of the key terms
in hypertext theory and no study concerned with hypertext can be conducted without a
further discussion ofthe terminology.
non-linear: Not linear, not pertainingto, involving orarranged ina (straight) line (Shorter
OxfordEnglish Dictionary)'
In the context of hypertext, the term non-linearity is generally used to refer to the
organisation ofhypertext nodes in such a manner that they can be accessed in more than
one order. This order, depending on the structure of the hypertext network, the
intentions of the author and the reading behaviour at the receiving end, can either be
highly planned and rigid, i.e. the same link in one node will always link to the same
corresponding node, or more flexible (or even random), i.e. with a high degree of
1 Robert Kendall, "Writing For the New Millennium: The Birth of Electronic Literature", at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/rkendall/pwl.htm (6.2.1996)
2 Jane Y. Douglas and Gordon Howell, "The Evolution of Interactive Fiction", Computer Assisted
Language Learning: An lntemationai[ournal, vol. 2 (1990), 93-109 (p.100).
3 The New Shorter OxfordEnglish Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
Chapter 2 - page24