Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl does not succeed in accomplishing what a normal printed novel does. It does tell a story, but even after reading it over a few times, it is hard to tell just exactly what that story is. In a printed book, the story is going to be the same every time even if the reader missed a few details here and there that they catch a second or third time they read it. Birkerts also gives many good reasons why a hypertext would not succeed as well. Patchwork Girl could almost be a different story on the second or third reading of it. The reader can read the sections of Patchwork Girl in different orders, which causes different interpretations of it. This “non set” way of reading, or lack of organization, along with the “new age” style of this hypertext contribute mostly to failing what other printed novels accomplish.
Sven Birkerts, author of The Gutenberg Elegies is able to draw up a pretty good picture of how he would feel about Patchwork Girl. He would certainly not enjoy reading the hypertext for many reasons. He thinks that novels are something that a reader needs to experience the way people have been ever since books started being written. According to Birkerts, the newer generations are reading less and less, which is causing overall intelligence of younger people today to decrease. Birkerts also pretty clearly states his definition of what a true, successful novel should be and also goes against “new age,” futuristic styles of reading, which is pretty much exactly what Patchwork Girl is.
Birkerts definition of what a book is is quite simple. “The order of print is linear, and is bound to logic by the imperatives of syntax. Syntax is the substructure of discourse, a mapping of the ways that the mind makes sense through language.” (Birkerts 122). He is saying here that while reading a book, there should be one straight path from the beginning to end. After finishing reading page 1, move on to page 2 and so on. Patchwork Girl goes completely against this, as there are many different ways to approach and read it. The syntax Birkerts is talking about is that the reader understands a book, or novel, by its language rather than order. Patchwork Girl is understood by reading it in certain orders, whereas in a book, the order is already established right form the start.
The flow of the book, which depends on its overall organization, is also important to Birkerts. “The pace of reading is variable, with progress determined by the reader’s focus and comprehension.” (Birkerts 122). Birkerts is saying that the reader must set the pace, not what they are reading. This is done very easily with a printed book. There are no two readers that can read things and understand it at the same pace. The reader must go as fast, or as slow, as they please because the flow of the book is as easy as turning a page. Patchwork Girl, however, sets the pace of the reader. Instead of just turning a page, after reading a passage, the reader must click the back button, look to see where the next arrow goes, click on that section, and then open up another passage. This disrupts any type of flow the reader has, which in turn disrupts focus and comprehension.
Birkerts also talks about his dislike of how the new technologies of the world are making people read books considerably less and less. “Alongside Wired, dominantly print-driven vehicles like The New Yorker or even The Paris Review look dowdy, Victorian. Unbroken columns of print suddenly seem like visual molasses.” (Birkerts 211). Birkerts clearly spells out here his dislike of the new, so called “cool and confident” way of writing has taken away from reading a regular book. People are picking up and reading things just because they are different, or look cool and interesting. A printed book is obviously going to look dull and boring next to a computer program filled with crazy pictures, different colors, and the works. If someone had not read Patchwork Girl or Gutenberg Elegies, and they saw the two side by side, that person would likely want to try to read Patchwork Girl. People get lured into reading Patchwork Girl by the futuristic feeling of it.
Reading Patchwork Girl is a very difficult and time-consuming process. That is not what makes it fail being a successful novel, however. There are many books, novels, plays, and other printed readings that are difficult to read and comprehend as well. It fails because the organization is far different and lacking compared to a printed novel. Novels are meant to be linear and understood by the language of it, not by reading separate passages in different orders. The printed novel takes care of the order, essentially doing that work for the reader. All the reader needs to do is read at their own pace and be able to comprehend what they are reading. They do not need to worry about the flow of the book because all that is necessary to do is flip a page, rather than searching for it.