The transition from unicursal to multicursal labyrinths

In his chapter “Cybertext,” Espen J. Aarseth discusses the topic of narrative and linearity (or non-linearity) in narratives. In addressing the non-linear nature of videogames and (some types of) electronic literature, Aarseth indicates that he often encounters critics who claim that non-linearity is also found in codex (print books), in general. However, Aarseth uses this chapter to demonstrate the differences between cybertext and the linear narrative found in books, although it must be mentioned that not all print books have a linear narrative, as he indicates in his text. One of the main differences is that cybertext in videogames or e-lit works allows the “reader” to play a crucial role in creating the narrative. For instance, on the one hand, in a videogame, the player can choose what path to take in the wide range of possibilities available to her. Each decision she makes will determine the new set of possibilities to choose from in the next decision-making stage. The sequence of choices will shape the experience to be unique to the given player. On the other hand, in linear narratives, the reader, inactively, is simply driven around through twists and turns that will always lead to the same destination, regardless of who the reader is or how many times a given reader interacts with a print book with a linear narrative.

Aarseth cites, in this chapter, Reed Doob who distinguishes between two types of labyrinths: “the unicursal, where there is only one path, winding and turning, usually toward a center; and the multicursal, where the maze wanderer faces a series of critical choices, or bivia” (pp. 5-6). The former example may represent the linear narrative found in many texts, while the latter can describe the cybertext. Jorge Luis Borge’s works, such as “El Aleph” and “El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan,” can be interpreted as a transition from the unicursal labyrinth to the multicursal one. For example, in “El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan,” the narrator of this story explores a novel and a labyrinth-like garden that his ancestor created. When he reaches a point in the novel where a character may choice between two or more options, those options were available for the narrator to choose among, mirroring the labyrinth that his ancestor had created. In this case, the narrator is the “player” of the multicursal videogame described by Aarseth’s non-linear narrative. However, the actual reader of the story by Borges does not have the option of interacting with the text by exercising her volition in the decision-making process. So, the reader is exposed to a multicursal experience (non-linearity) from afar, in a second-degree experience. This story by Borges, as experienced by the narrator, however, is what readers of non-linear narratives in videogames and e-lit are exposed to, as a result of technological advances that allow the reader to interact with the work in a way that she is able to choose a unique path that shapes her experience. Now, instead of reading about the experience of non-linearity, the reader is able to experience the non-linear narrative described in Borge’s “El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan.”