I’ve always had an interest in theories of time. Pondered just how it is that time unfolds or circulates or bends or collides. Needless to say I haven’t got an answer. I just continue to exist in whatever reality this is.

At the end of what I would call a rather exhaustive search for information on Borges’ story, I still have only found one (working) example of the story as a hypertext narrative.

But the crown jewel of my search is this website, which explores the idea of the hypertext narrative, with focus on it’s relation to Borges (and Vannevar Bush, who did important work with analog computing, the atomic bomb, and the idea of the memex). It is even a hypertext narrative itself.

She also links to two beautiful hypertext works (as a note, there’s some adult content in both of these):

Caitlin Fisher’s These Waves of Girls

Shelly Jackson’s My Body

After spending hours this week searching for hypertext versions of this story, I am beginning to feel a bit discouraged. I have quickly come to realize that a gajillion people out there have taken inspiration from, written critical discourse on, and quoted from Borges’ story.

And broken links abound.

One dead end was more interesting than all the rest. That is that Stuart Moulthrop, a professor at UB, created his own hypertext version of GFP, called “Forking Paths.” I was quite disappointed to discover, however, that it is not available anywhere online. It is only available through something called New Media Reader, which one can purchase for $45 if one is so inclined. I am not, sadly.

Another interesting and seemingly dead end is this website, which pulls up simply a picture of a labyrinth, nothing more (at least so far as I can tell).

This website seemed promising, but if there was an ability to navigate from the main page, I couldn’t figure it out.

And what I started to realize as time slipped by, was that the internet itself is a garden of forking paths. Presumable, we students all started out from the same (or a very similar) place, and have wandered through the garden, all winding up in different places. This action, more than anything, seems to me to embody the story.

Sticks, flowers, and rocks I’ve found on my wanderings through the garden:

Eastgate (publisher of hypertext works)

Conceptual art inspired by GFP

Tekkalogue, a chronicle of innovative new media

Navigating the garden