Inspired by the fragmentary structure of The Lover, my reading of “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History,” and the many metaphors supplied by Jorge Luis Borges’s Ficciones, I began to ask myself questions about narrative structures: What possibilities exist? How do they operate? What do they mean for the post-modern reader?

And so, in writing this essay, I decided to explore many different possible metaphors for approaches to (and structures of) narrative—the garden of forking paths, the erotic object, the hypertext, etc. Still, it must be understood that these all remain as metaphors; that one needs not create a hypertext to approach a work as such; that a novel need not be a maze to be like the great labyrinth.

And, in approaching these various metaphors, I too fell into a unique and unfamiliar structure of the essay. It is, most plainly, a hypertext; but it is also a form that makes use of fragmentary and fleeting moments as inspired by Duras, that weaves crosscurrents and linkages through our various readings this semester as Ts’ui Pên weaved the various potential realities of time into his labyrinth.

This essay does not seek to explain, nail down, or elaborate on any single idea. It does not seek that “ideal continuity” of traditional history.^[1] Rather, it celebrates the accidents of the mind, the student (myself) at play throughout the semester in his attempts to engage with the texts.

In the end, I feel now more like a careless magician than a trained academic. And yet, this accidental form of creation feels exiting and worthwhile. I can only invite you to play along.