Programmed and crafted by the author,
Judd Morrissey
Mechanics of reconfiguration designed in collaboration with Lori Talley
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The Jew's Daughter is an interactive, non-linear, multi-valent narrative, a storyspace that
is unstable but nonetheless remains organically intact, progressively weaving itself together by way of subtle
transformations on a single virtual page.
Since its release The Jew's Daughter. has been incorporated into several university syllabi within literature, creative writing and experimental programming departments. |
John Ippolito, Artist, Curator of Media Arts, Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Most online narratives follow the "illustrated hypertext" model, in which lexias of text accented by static or moving images offer links to other lexias with similar formats. Judd Morrissey offers a welcome alternative: a navigation system in which rolling over a highlit word subtly changes the entire narrative on the page. Finally, online fiction that reads like Alain Robbe-Grillet instead of Vannevar Bush.
New York Times: Arts@Large: "Pushing Hypertext in New Directions," Matthew Mirapaul
Because the transformation takes place just at the edge of the reader's peripheral vision, the effect seems that much
more magical. There are practical results, though: all 225 sections of the story can be read without turning a page.
.. Once one becomes accustomed to the innovative interface, it is easy to get involved in the story, and fans of William
Faulkner and the more experimental works of James Joyce will enjoy the work's intricate structure..
The New Republic: "Whither E-Literature: Automatic Writing," Keith Gessen
The Jew's Daughter employs a cousin of the link, but its fluid page (which on certain browsers actually takes over your entire screen) manages what the linked page has always failed to do: It insists on its own urgency.
The Barcelona Review: "The Book, The writer, His Tools and the Future of Publishing," M.G. Smout
The word organic comes to mind (referring to The Jew's Daughter) but what it reminded me of was trying to block a tiny stream with one hand and though you're half successful, to stop the water that is getting through your fingers you use the other hand, and once that dam fills and leaks you move the first hand and place it behind the other, and so on.
The Iowa Review: "The Very Essence of Poetry," Jessica Pressman
Morrissey..explored the subject of textual context and reconfiguration in The Jew's Daughter, a work in which rolling over active words changes passages of text on the same screen, as opposed to prompting a change of screen. The screen stays while the text changes, embodying Michael Joyce's notion that "electronic text replaces itself." Shifting the content's context destabilizes the act and process of reading. The reader of The Jew's Daughter learns to expect disorientation within the words themselves. To extract a quote from The Jew's Daughter, and thus to participate in decontextualizing content: "Things seek realization in new configurations" (screen 221).
BIOGRAPHIES
Judd Morrissey received his MFA from Brown University. His work in electronic literature has been internationally received and included in symposiums and exhibitions such as ASCI's Digital2000, p0es1s: International Exhibition of Digital Poetry, File2001, DAC2001, WebRacket at the DeCordova Museum, ELO State of the Arts Symposium, and Language and Encoding at the University of Buffalo; it has also been reviewed by the New York Times, The New Republic, RAINTAXI, and the Iowa Review. "My Name Is Captain, Captain," a collaboration with Lori Talley was published by Eastgate Systems in 2002. Upcoming readings and exhibitions include E-Poetry2003 (Morgantown, West Virginia), and The Book Reconsidered (Mobius space: Boston). He teaches in the Art and Technology department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and freelances in the field of artificial intelligence and natural language processing.
Lori Talley holds a BA in Music Program Zero and Integrated Arts from Bard College, where she worked with composer and theorist Benjamin Boretz. She earned her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Talley's work in electronic literature and composition is widely recognized and has been included in several international exhibitions including ISEA97, P0es1s: International Exhibition of Digital Poetry, DAC2001, Language and Encoding Symposium. Her work has been featured in The Iowa Review Web and Crude Oils (online journal). Recent publications include My Name is Captain, Captain (Eastgate Systems 2002) and Now Culture.com: NC1 Magazine. Talley teaches in the Sound and Art and Technology Studies Departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.