However, in her cyber fiction, Jackson has Mary Shelley (a.k.a.

The Doctor did not comply with the monster's wishes. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. I am alone and miserable man will not associate with me but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. In Frankenstein, the monster pleads to Dr. Jackson also incorporates Greek mythology in her story, but most important is her use of Shelley's plot and characters. Like Patchwork Girl, Shelley's work also draws upon other print sources for its story, including the myth of Prometheus, a Greek Titan who stole fire from Olympus, gave it to humankind in defiance of Zeus, and suffered the torture of being chained and eaten by an eagle until released by Hercules. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the text most alluded to and which Jackson uses extensively throughout her own work. So, let the title again be a springboard, in this instance to delve into the notable literary influences on the work. Likewise, it is challenging to decide where to begin a discussion of the intertextuality of the work. A Beginning: LiteratureĪfter the title page of Patchwork Girl appears on the screen, the reader must choose which lexia to click to next, an ergodic action that can sometimes be confusing. While fascinating, the manner and material from which Jackson stitches her pastiche together is also worth investigating, to unravel the blind hem holding together her original and grabbed ideas. Although the technology of Patchwork Girl is finding its niche in mainstream culture, in both academic and non-academic circles, critical essays remain mostly within the Eastgate/Brown University hypertext community and focused on the form of the hypertext itself. Several critics, including Landow, praise Jackson for her unique genius in combining hypertext and images in a modern feminist rendition of Frankenstein. The intertextuality imbedded in the stitches of this hypertext is extensive and at times frustrating.

In addition to Mary Shelley, Jackson gathered material and writing styles from all possible sources-from canonical literature to popular culture, from feminism, gender and queer studies to science, and from philosophy to film. Shelley Jackson found her name fortuitous for this writing and the opportunity to satirize her name with the famous female author irresistible. 1 It is obvious from the title of this work that the story is derived from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Shelley Jackson's hypertext pastiche Patchwork Girl or, A Modern Monster, published by Eastgate, is 'parasitic on print predecessors' according to N.

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