Richard Holeton

ETC Press • Carnegie Mellon University • 10th October 2022

"Putting the Pig Back Together Again: Dis(re)connection in 'Figurski at Findhorn on Acid'"

"The pigs become a metaphor for the novel—like the hypertext, they both have exactly 147 parts, parts which the characters disassemble and then must try to reassemble in the end when they finally come together 'all on the same page.' Likewise, the experience of reading the novel involves a constant (re)assembling of its disparate elements into scenes, as the reader traverses hypertext links and chooses navigational paths. . . "

kaemi via itch.io

Interactive Fiction Database • 20th August 2022

Kaemi Velatet, "The Winograd Matrix" (Review)

"Like a lot of twentieth century futurism formalisms, the idea is conceptually entertaining, if not necessarily applicable, which means that it provides a perfect pomo playground. . . . This work echoes a lot of the tropes of academic-facing elit that I find annoying, in which there is more effort spent on conceptual innovation posturing than on the actual content."

The Digital Review • electronic book review • 13th September 2021

Dene Grigar, "The Ethics of Digital Preservation: Obligation to Future Generations"

In "When We Are No More," Abby Smith Rumsey argues that culture is a “a collective form of memory” and that memory impacts not only the survival of a species but of that species’ culture. Richard Holeton’s hypertext novel "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid," and Caitlin Fisher’s Flash net art narrative "These Waves of Girls," constitute two recent works the [Electronic Literature Lab] has saved within the parameters of Rumsey's ethic.

Electronic Literature Lab, WSU-Vancouver • 9th July 2021

Mariusz Pisarski, "The new Figurski… – blueprints for media translation"

Richard Holeton’s funny, crazy, ultra-postmodern satire "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" was [first] published in 2001, just about the time when its platform of choice started its descent into obscurity. . . . This [new] design makes "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" AD 2021 a unique, lasting contribution to media translation.

Holly Slocum, Electronic Literature Lab, and Tyler Brumfield

Electronic Literature Lab, WSU-Vancouver • 20th May 2021

"Someone, Somewhere, with Something: The Origins of Figurski"

In 1995, I wrote a 500-word flash fiction about Theodore Streleski, a real-life, perennial Stanford graduate student who notoriously bludgeoned to death his faculty advisor with a hammer in the 1970s. "Streleski at Findhorn on Acid," which imagined Streleski visiting the New Age intentional community of Findhorn, Scotland, while high on LSD, won First Prize in Grain Magazine's 1995 "Short Grain Postcard Story" contest.

Electronic Literature Lab

Electronic Literature Lab, WSU-Vancouver • 18th May 2021

Michael Tratner, "The Distinctive Quality of Holeton's Hypertext Fiction"

The wonder of this hypertext is that it rigidly sticks to an extremely complicated, even tortured, organization (in which every possible arrangement of three characters, three objects and three places occurs) and yet it is a good read — whether you mechanically follow the default route or flip around randomly, you can zip through and enjoy the pages.

Electronic Literature Lab, WSU-Vancouver • 15th May 2021

Dene Grigar, "Migration as Translation: Moving Figurski to the Web"

In a digital translation aimed at restoring access to a work that has become technologically obsolete, the gain is so much greater than the loss. In the case of "Figurski," especially, it means that we can now again read one of the most unique and quirky interactive novels of the early 21st Century.

Rebooting Electronic Literature, Volume 2 • 20th December 2019

Dene Grigar, "A Man and His Shoes: Complexity and Satire in Richard Holeton's Figurski at Findhorn on Acid"

Along with its satirical treatment of contemporary culture, a hallmark of the novel is its structure: It is a massive work of 147 text spaces built around clearly-defined combinations of three characters, locations, and artifacts, with an additional 147 Notes help to further contextualize the narrative for readers, and 2001 links connecting spaces and Notes together.

Electronic Literature Directory • 12th May 2019

Chelsea Miya, "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid"

The story follows the main character Frank Figurski’s quest to acquire a legendary mechanical pig. The encyclopedic form of the novel satirizes academic language and research culture. The scenes alternate between various genre styles, both fictional and non-fictional, including: poetry, dramatic dialogue, and email exchanges. Holeton appears especially fond of pedagogical rhetoric and both invites and pokes fun at practices of scholarly inquiry.

Literary Studies in the Digital Age, MLA Commons • 1st May 2018

Davin Heckman and James O’Sullivan, “Electronic Literature: Contexts and Poetics”

In the work of Richard Holeton, readers will find a consistent tendency to exploit commonplace digital forms for literary effect. . .

Ilha Do Destero: Posthumanism • 5th June 2017

Ermelinda Maria Araújo Ferreira and Joanita Baú de Oliveira, "Poetic Inventory: Notes on the Remains of the Human in Literature"

Key words: Post-humanism, Electronic Literature, Literary Criticism, Vladimir Nabokov, Richard Holeton.

XV Abralic • Dialogarts Publications • 23rd September 2016

Joanita Bau de Oliveira, "A Narrativa Especular em Hipertexto: O Caso de 'Frequently Asked Questions About “Hypertext”,' De Richard Holeton"

Just as Joyce transports the action of Homer's Odyssey to 20th century Dublin, Richard Holeton transposes
Nabokov's Pale Fire into the context of digital technology.

ELO 2015 Conference • 6th August 2015

Davin Heckman, "Jailbreaking the Global Mnemotechnical System: Electropoetics as Resistance"

This paper [explores] subversive practices of electronic literature as contexts for the experience of agency within various systems of control [t]hrough close readings of covert communication practices in prison narratives alongside the works like Rob Wittig’s Netprovs, Richard Holeton’s slideshow narratives, Nick Montfort’s !#, and Darius Kazemi’s “Tiny Subversions.”

The MIT Press • 1st August 2014

Astrid Ensslin, "'The Pen is Your Weapon of Choice': Ludic Hypertext Literature and the Play with the Reader"

(Chapter 4 in "Literary Gaming") The tripartite structure (character—place—object) [of Holeton's "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid"] is curiously reminiscent of the way most digital games are structured.

electronic book review • 19th February 2013

Davin Heckman, "The Politics of Plasticity: Neoliberalism and the Digital Text"

Through readings of John Cayley, YHCHI, Rob Wittig, and Richard Holeton, Heckman points to a poetics of technical estrangement by which new media is opened up to deliberative reading . . .

Journal of Narrative Theory Volume 42, Number 2 • 1st July 2012

Alice Bell and Jan Alber, "Ontological Metalepsis and Unnatural Narratology"

Throughout the text, the characters exchange a series of combative emails with an individual called Richard Holeton, whom we interpret as the storyworld counterpart of the hypertext’s author in the actual world.. . .

Lecture, University of Bergen • 12th April 2012

Davin Heckman, "Grasping at Loose Bindings: Thoughts on Language, Literature, Communication in a Time of Change"

University of Bergen (Norway) Fulbright Scholar lecture in Digital Culture by Davin Heckman exploring "the objective tendency of neoliberalism and the digital revolution, and the humanistic potential of emerging literary and critical practices" including "Grace, Wit, and Charm" by Rob Wittig and "Custom Orthotics Changed My Life" by Richard Holeton.

Narrative Volume 19, Number 3 • 15th December 2011

Alice Bell and Astrid Ensslin, "'I know what it was. You know what it was': Second-Person Narration in Hypertext Fiction"

An analysis of two Storyspace hypertexts, Stuart Moulthrop's "Victory Garden" and Richard Holeton's "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid" . . . .

The Possible Worlds of Hypertext Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan) • 15th June 2010

Alice Bell, "The Colourful Worlds of Richard Holeton's (2001) 'Figurski at Findhorn on Acid'"

(Chapter 6 in "The Possible Worlds of Hypertext Fiction") While the structure [of "Figurski"] adds to the staccato style of the narrative, the resultant disjointed scenes are also responsible for generating humor . . .

Porkopolis • 27th September 2008

Daniel E. Schultz, "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid"

(Book review) This is far more than a pig tale; Holeton transports us through a spiraling adventure spanning time, culture and pathological purposes with great wit and enthusiasm . . .