Michael Joyce

Michael Joyce (b. 1945) is a professor of English at Vassar College, NY, USA. He is also an important author and critic of hypertext fiction and electronic literature. Joyce used Storyspace software to create “afternoon: a story” in 1987, one of the earliest hypertext literary pieces. His second hypertext story, “Twilight, a Symphony: a Hyperfiction” appeared in 1996 along with “Twelve Blue.” Joyce’s honed his creative craft at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop (with the print novel War Outside Ireland: A Novel to prove his print credentials), but he has also produced important critical texts. Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics appeared in 1995, followed by Othermindedness: The Emergence of Network Culture (2000) and Moral Tales and Meditations: Technological Parables and Refractions (2001). Reflecting yet another definitive feature of multimedia artistry, Joyce has been working collaboratively with other multiledia composers: Venezuelan video artist Anita Pantin and Canadian composer Bruce Pennycook; and, in another project, with visual artist Alexandra Grant. He is currently Professor of English and Media Studies at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.