하이퍼서사의 서술 전략 연구 ─ <함무라비의 밀실>을 중심으로 ─

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to raise our understanding of the genre and form of hypertext by analyzing the narrative strategies of the hypernarrative work <Hammurabi's Secret Chamber>. The paper focuses on discussing two narrative strategies. One is a segmented narrative strategy. <Hammurabi's Secret Chamber> divides the narrative into three parts, and then further divides them into a total of 83 units. This strategy aims to create narrative meaning through ‘unit operation’, which dynamically and non-linearly connects these discontinuously divided units. The other is an impersonal narrative strategy. <Hammurabi's Secret Chamber> adopts a structure where CCTV cameras observe a murder case in a secret room. CCTV, as a kind of external focalizer, looks at the focalized object as a homogeneous plane without any difference in intensity or density. This homogeneous plane is not in sync with the perspective and perception of any personal narrator, so it easily allows the recipient to become a narrator. These two narrative strategies work in close association with each other, making <Hammurabi's Secret Chamber> a narrative that is centered on the recipient rather than the creator. The recipient experiences becoming a narrator by reconstructing or generating the narrative through unit operation. They become similar to players of digital games. <Hammurabi's Secret Chamber> can be called a “game-type hypernarrative” in that it uses such a gamified narrative strategy.