The CD-Rom novel Myst and McLuhan's fourth law of media: Myst and its 'retrievals'

Myst, an interactive multimedia novel on CD-ROM, successfully shapes the older art forms into a new genre of participatory literature. Myst confirms McLuhan's fourth law of media shift, which advocates the retrieval of older art forms in a new medium. It recreates art forms, which range from the Homeric epic to medieval allegories and from silent cinema to surrealist paintings. Its classic presentation of the subject without any violence has made it the first bestseller in the multimedia market during 1994 and 1995.