Narrative Structures for New Media: Towards a New Definition

ARISTOTLE’S POETICS IS AN INADEQUATE NARRATIVE MODEL for the creation of computer interactive art, contrary to the thesis laid down by Brenda Laurel’s Computers as Theatre. Although she opened up space for a rather tantalizing dialogue in this area, it is to non-Western cultures that one should look for narrative structures that fit the sophistication of Western new technologies. The theories and processes of African oral literature provide the groundwork for such a narrative model. A comparison of contemporary postmodern thought and African oral literature shows that they share many attributes. Through a description of her work, which challenges the notion of book arts and narrative theory, as well as through an exploration of the advanced mathematical theory of fuzzy logic, the author opens the door for a discussion of narrative that crosses cultural, aesthetic, and academic boundaries. In this concept of narrative, nuance, indeterminacy, and polyventiality are major players.