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Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
realism

Realism can be thought of as any style that emphasises the verisimilitude of its world via an effort to conceal its constructedness. That is realism is less to do with the veracity of the represented world, and more to do with the manner in which that world is formally represented by the discourse which creates it. Realist literature emphasises syntagmatic movement, realised not only as story and event, but also as the 'invisibleness' of the story unfolding of itself. The language of writing is subject to the narrative and draws attention to the narrative, not itself.

In hypertext we could characterise any similarly written or built hypertext as being likewise realist. The distinction or definition simply being those works that seek to conceal their manufacture or constructedness from the reader. The import of this is in the assumption being made about the transparency of the connection, and all that such transparency is required to conceal, avoid, and not reveal.

Adrian Miles: Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
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Journal of Digital Information