Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction

by Nick Montfort
The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003
286 pp., illus., 2 b/w. Trade: $29.95
ISBN: 0-262-13436-5.

Reviewed by Dene Grigar
Texas Woman’s University

dgrigar@twu.edu

"We are standing at the beginning of a new fusion of technology and literature." Gary McGath, qtd. In Montfort, 228

Many of us are still waiting for a future of electronic literature that proves McGath’s words correct, for twenty years after they were spoken Nick Montfort in his book, Twisty Little Passages, reminds us that little, if any, of his "predictions" have come true. This fact may underlie the presence of wistful hopefulness that permeates Montfort’s tome. But if anything can infuse energy into the art, it is this careful and exciting study of interactive fiction (IF).

Defined as "text game," "text adventure," a "simulated world," work that "react[s] to input meaningfully," and a work that "explicitly (author’s emphasis) call[s] upon the reader to interact . . . by means of queries or replies" (vii-viii, 8), IF constitutes a specific genre of electronic literature whose genesis Montfort traces to the ancient riddle. Much is riding on establishing a connection between IF to the past since many traditional literature theorists devote no attention to it.

The title of the book is borrowed from the well-known description of the terrain of a maze found in the game, Adventure (90). Lest anyone try to ignore the influence of IF upon contemporary culture, consider this fact: "Twisty little passages" became the way in which Tim Berners-Lee envisioned the "hyper-routes" of his early iteration of the WWW, bringing the conceptual framework of IF to bear upon the development of the Web (225). Not a shabby legacy for gamers to boast of.

This reference to the Web represents only one reason among many why Montfort’s book is necessary for academics to read, for it raises consciousness about IF’s importance in our culture. For those involved in games, it reasserts the name of the genre, lost in Electronic Literature Organization’s move to organize the many genres of electronic literature into a succinct list of eight categories. Finally, for all of us it fleshes out "an approach" toward a "richer experience" for engagement with IF(xi) in that it "describe[s] some of the intellectual history of the form and its relationship to other literary and gaming forms, and to computing and other computer programs, while critically examining a representative selection of important works and describing their interrelationships" (5).

The history of IF the book provides, beginning with its link to riddles, which he defines widely as "literary and folk texts and utterances" (38) like that of The Exeter Book and kennings (56); literary machines of the middle ages and beyond, like Ramon Llull’s Ars Generalis Ultima and Ars Breva dated 1274 CE, the I Ching, and Ted Nelson’s Labyrinth (72-3); role-playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons; and, finally, adventure games like SHRDLU, Adventure, and Zork, figures as one of the book’s many strengths.

Others include the book’s many tables, figures, and resources. The list of IF works and their creators reveals, for instance, the influence of Cambridge and the Acheron system upon IF (116), and the list of thirty-five "canonical" works from Infocom, the variety of themes and plots reflected in it (122-4). In the same token, the 150 primary works found in the Works Cited demonstrate yet another example of Montfort’s careful research into the IF genre.

Since IF is classified as a form of electronic literature and Montfort discusses its narrative and literary aspects, helpful it would have been if he could have provided a working definition of literature since traditionalists who come across the book may wonder about it. To be honest, those who teach electronic literature wonder about it too, so getting the perspective of one who actively creates it and critiques it could go far in helping to make the case of its connection to literature.

Some other issues may bother a few readers. Terms unfamiliar like "metalepsis" and "dyslepsis" are left undefined (138), and some claims are not substantiated, like his assertion that A Mind Forever Voyaging is "one of the preeminent works of computer literature" (156). This claim very well may be true, but this reviewer wants to know why Montfort holds that opinion and what criteria he bases his views on.

Twisty Little Passages is the first book to devote complete attention to the study of one particular genre of electronic literature, and one hopes it is not the last. Such a book is timely, much needed, and greatly appreciated by this reviewer for its depth and scope.