The Short Story as HyperStory.

A software application called HyperStory is a reading program for short fiction which has proved to be effective in the classroom. In 3 years of use, over 300 students have tried it out. Part of the reason for its suitability for helping students develop short story reading skills lies in the relationship between the computer technology known as hypertext and some basic historical/generic characteristics of the short story since its beginning with Edgar Allan Poe. HyperStory exploits the generic characteristics of the short story, compelling students to "slow" down their reading and construct spatial nets out of the seeming temporal flow of the story. With Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" as an example, the student is guided step-by-step through the program. Based on student observation, some of the reasons for HyperStory's success are: (1) readers cannot skim to the end of the story; (2) students reading at the computer put themselves in a more serious analytical state of mind; (3) students are less apt to "drift off" to other matters when reading on a computer screen; (4) students are encouraged to pause as they are reading to reflect back on the story; (5) readers are apt to feel a closer sense of interaction with the computer than with a book; (6) HyperStory creates the illusion that it is the story, not the teacher, asking the questions; and (7) students are able to transfer their experience with the heuristic prompts embedded in the HyperStory format to stories outside the format. (TB)