directory of ETDs currently in progress

Name and Affiliation

Name: Michael Shumate
University: Duke University
Department: Liberal Studies

Contact Information

Address:
212 West Trinity Avenue
Durham NC 27701

Phone: (919) 682-4249
Email: mshumate@acpub.duke.edu

Project Description

Title: Writing Lives: Technology, Creativity, and Hypertext Fiction
Supervisor(s): Dr. Kristine Stiles, Dept. of Art and Art History
Date Begun: June, 1995 (Completed August 1996)

Degree: M.A.
Format: HTML

Description:

The "writing lives" of the title refers not only to writing fiction (the "lives" of characters) but also to two pairs of dualities in my own life as a writer: writing as an artist and critic and writing in print and hypertext. The latter pair is the more important focus in the project. I first wrote a story in hypertext, "Holier Than Thou." Since the story itself was originally conceived (but not completed) for print several years ago, it too has a transitional and dual nature. With the story as example, I discuss how the move to hypertext has affected the act of writing, my life as a writer, and the community or "art world" (as defined by Howard Becker) of which a work of fiction becomes a part. As far as my degree is concerned, the project was completed in August, 1996, but actually it only begins a framework for rethinking my vocation.

URL: http://www.duke.edu/~mshumate/fiction/htt/mals.html