December 2021
Contemporary literature has entered a new realm: it is now forced to reckon with the digital age. Yet, this is not the first time that a drastic shift in literature has occurred. The book itself was revolutionary. In Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age by Jessica Pressman, Pressman notes that “we forget that the book was once the new media raising concern about its potential power[1]. The book, too, was once unknown, perhaps frightening. This same mindset, the fear of the unknown, is reflected in today’s digital world. Now the concept of “the book” is under threat. Katherine Hayles cites Pressman in her article “Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts as a Slipstream Novel”: “Fear rather than necessity is the mother of invention; [Pressman] proposes writers turn to experimental fiction to fight for their lives, or at least the life of their novel”[2]. Thus, the digital challenge to our society’s definition of a book calls on contemporary writers and creators to experiment and dabble with the unknown.
Steven Hall experiments with this unknown in The Raw Shark Texts, carefully balancing the traditional book with the new digital world. Hall evokes literary tradition by exploring lost written mediums and breaking descriptive imagery down to its most basic form. He challenges this literary tradition by exploring the digital realm, appropriating code as its own language and publishing 36 “Un-Chapters” in hidden online locations. This combination of old and new makes The Raw Shark Texts a look into the contemporary genre, challenging what is expected of tradition but embracing it too.
Steven Hall breaks imagery down to its most basic form. He does so by creating images out of descriptive language. In doing so, he metaphorically brings writing and description back centuries. The construction of the Orpheus is a prime example; Steven Hall draws a key diagram of the boat with a list of 14 different descriptions of objects varying from planks to computers to a desk fan. These objects carry individual significance yet are not described as a cohesive unit. In other words, it is up to the reader to imagine how the boat will come to life. Eric Sanderson poses this problem to Dr. Fidorous: “it’s just stuff […] if the shark comes, are we, what, going to climb up on those boxes and play Ahab or something?”, to which Dr. Fidorous responds: “You’re quite correct. It’s just stuff […] But the idea these things embody, the meaning we’ve assigned to them in putting them together […] that’s what’s important”[3]. The boat comes to life through the words (the individual objects) that compose it. This is how description works, the words spark an image in a reader’s head and they themselves connect the dots. This becomes even more literal with the flipbook series of the Ludovician Shark. Over the course of thirty pages, an image of the shark composed of words emerges from the depths of the pages. The shark, which preys on memories, is composed of the words: “I feel like I’ve forgotten something important”[4]. This is the ultimate literalistic representation of imagery. The shark’s purpose as a memory stealer is molded into its image on the page. It is composed of its meaning, just as imagination is drawn from description on the page. This text-based imagery is an exploration into the basics of writing, examining how we interpret words, imbue meaning, and create – in the act of reading – a story in participation with the text.
Hall employs lost printed mediums throughout The Raw Shark Texts as a way of embracing written tradition. Letters from Eric Sanderson #1 are scattered throughout the book, always addressing Eric Sanderson #2. In Letter #2, Eric Sanderson #1 writes: “Dear Eric, I used to know so many things. The things I learned, the ways I learned to see and the things I believed possible”[5]. There is great emphasis on the passing of time in this letter; the past tense and the destruction of “what used to be” are the basis of this letter. It is notable that letters too are a medium that “used to be”, now replaced with email and text in its myriad digital forms. Thus, this letter not only encompasses content from the past, but is made up of written communication of the past. The letters continue: In letter #205, Eric Sanderson #1 writes: “Dear Eric, Six months. Are you still with me?”[6]. The continuation of these letters emphasizes the passing of time. Thus, although the world may continue to modernize (and although so much of the novel is based on futuristic technologies), these letters remain. These letters, accompanied by postcards and newspaper clippings, are a look into the past. Letters and post cards replaced with email and text, printed newspaper articles replaced with online media, diary entries replaced with social media rants, the world’s printed forms are quickly evolving (or disappearing). Thus, Hall’s decision to embrace these lost texts signifies a deeper connection to literature and makes his novel traditionally “bookish.”
Hall has included tradition in his novel by exploring description’s connection to image and meaning. He has also embraced tradition by utilizing lost written practices. These methods enable his novel to be a novel in our customary use of the word. Yet, Hall also experiments with the unknown, employing tactics from the digital age to create a hybrid traditional and contemporary (trademporary) story.
Just as old written mediums are scattered throughout the text, so are codes. In the Light Bulb Text encryption detailed in Letter #111, there is morse code transcribed using letter charts. The second part of the code uses the layout of a typewriter or computer keyboard[7]. There are other types of code used throughout The Raw Shark Texts as well, including what is described as a QWERTY code that is encoded on a standard QWERTY keyboard. Thus, there are various codes used throughout the text that are needed to establish meaning. Just as the alphabet is used to create language and meaning throughout a novel, Hall utilizes code to create clues and understanding throughout his novel. This is a clear dive into the technological sphere; the blend of computer science and literature is an incredibly modern approach to writing. It is on the opposite side of writing physical letters or printing physical newspapers, but it comes as a combined experience in this contemporary novel. The QWERTY code is key because when Dr. Fidorous and Eric Sanderson decode this, they create diagonal arrows that resemble the letter “e”[8]. This letter “e” is an indicator that “There’s more to The Light Bulb Fragment”, or rather, that there is a second piece of related writing lost from the physical text[9].
These lost pieces of writing are known as the “un-chapters”, a group of texts that are hidden online in a type of un-space. This is a play on real lost texts throughout history, ranging from the lost Greek tragedies to the lost Biblical texts. Hall tells his readers that “for every chapter bound into this book, there is an un-chapter, a negative, existing somewhere beyond its covers. Some are several pages in length, some just a couple of lines. […] Some are online, hiding. […] By now, some are lost forever”[10]. These 36 un-chapters have ignited a cult following online; groups of people communicate in online forums, such as Reddit, aiding one another in their quest to locate each chapter. One Reddit forum I discovered was titled: “Let’s go on a negative-chapter search, because we’re not scared”[11]. The dialogue in this forum discusses lost fragments including the “Aquarium Fragments” with fans providing links to these lost chapters. Most of these links have been destroyed or lost, primarily leading to “server not found.” Hall has truly experimented with what is bookish; half his novel is not in The Raw Shark Text’s printed form. He has utilized the technological world to publish his work. At the same time, Hall has a physical copy (though unfinished) of his novel. This fusion of tangible and intangible is what makes Hall’s novel so contemporary. The texts are not lost in the physical sense (thrown to the wind of time, lost in the dirt), but they are missing in the digital, negative-space of the world.
There is a fundamental mix of what is bookish and what is contemporary in the Raw Shark Texts. This unique mix is exactly what makes this novel so contemporary. It does exactly what Pressman proposes writers do: “turn to experimental fiction to fight for their lives, or at least the life of their novel”[12]. This experimental combination of “old and new” cultivates in the title of the novel, a play on the “Rorschach Test.” The Rorschach Test is simply a blot of ink on paper, just like writing once was. Yet, the test goes further than this: it explores the science behind our human intuition (imbuing meaning where it may not exist) through psychological analysis, algorithms, and other tools. Thus, it is the perfect combination of tradition and future, it combines what is comfortable with what is unknown. The title of the novel is reflective of a greater trend throughout the story, one that combines literary custom with the futuristic digital age: a notable contemporary experiment.
Bibliography
Hall, Steven. The Raw Shark Texts. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2007.
"Let's Go on a Negative-Chapter Search, Because We're Not Scared." Reddit (blog). Entry posted 2012. Accessed October 11, 2021. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRawSharkTexts/comments/11ghww/lets_go_on_a_negativechapter_search_because_were/.
N. Katherine Hayles. "Material Entanglements: Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts as Slipstream Novel." Science Fiction Studies 38, no. 1 (2011): 115-33. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.38.1.0115.
Pressman, Jessica. Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020.
[1] Jessica Pressman, Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020), 26.
[2] N. Katherine Hayles, "Material Entanglements: Steven Hall’s <em>The Raw Shark Texts</em> as Slipstream Novel," Science Fiction Studies 38, no. 1 (2011): 120, https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.38.1.0115.
[3] Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2007), 302.
[4] Hall, The Raw Shark, 361.
[5] Hall, The Raw Shark, 63.
[6] Hall, The Raw Shark, 77.
[7] Hall, The Raw Shark, 73-76.
[8] Hall, The Raw Shark, 293-295.
[9] Hall, The Raw Shark, 296.
[10] Hall, The Raw Shark
[11] "Let's Go on a Negative-Chapter Search, Because We're Not Scared.," Reddit (blog), entry posted 2012, accessed October 11, 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRawSharkTexts/comments/11ghww/lets_go_on_a_negativechapter_search_because_were/.
[12] N. Katherine Hayles, "Material Entanglements," 120.