Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 37, No. 198.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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        Date: 2023-09-09 17:28:18+00:00
        From: scholar-at-large@bell.net <scholar-at-large@bell.net>
        Subject: Can a line of code be ironic?

[shifted line numbering to accommodate white spacing]

 Willard,

In the latest issue of Digital Humanities Quarterly (Volume 17 Number 2) there
is an article by Jason Boyd

"Poetry as Code as Interactive Fiction: Engaging Multiple Text-Based Literacies
in Scarlet Portrait Parlor" [1]

From the abstract:

[quote]
This case study aims to elaborate the value of Scarlet Portrait Parlor as a rich
example of how poetry, programming, and interactive fiction can be intertwined
if not blurred in a single text and to act as a catalyst for generative
discussions about the overlapping and intertwining of natural languages,
programming languages, creative writing, and coding.
[/quote]

Scarlet Portrait Parlor can be read as a sonnet, as code written in Inform 7,
and/or as interactive fiction. (see below)

Once a month, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities
hosts a Zoom meeting on Critical Code Studies to discuss coding/programming from
a critical perspective informed by the humanities. On September 26 (via Zoom)
Jason Boyd will be in conversation with me about how reading Scarlet Portrait
Parlor as sonnet, code, & interactive fiction refines our understanding of
Critical Code Studies. To register for the session see the newsletter link below
[2].

Sneak peek:
Notice that the last line of code (see below) ends with the string "It's done."
as an end to the story. The reference of the pronoun, it, can mark the end of
the sonnet, the end of the coding, the end of the interactive fiction.
Addressing the reader as co-creator, it can also mark a beginning (it is done =
it is set in motion): the seed for a crown of sonnets, the prompt to create more
rooms and object in the interactive fiction; the done is undone. Coding irony at
work?

[1] https://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/17/2/000693/000693.html
<https://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/17/2/000693/000693.html>
[2] https://cdh.rula.info/newsletter/ <https://cdh.rula.info/newsletter/>

**********

[A]  "Scarlet Portrait Parlor" by Prismatik

[B]  [A sonnet]

[1]  The Scarlet Portrait Parlor is a room

[2]  When play begins: say "Darkness falls again."

[3]  Inside the Portrait Parlor is a loom.
[4]  "A [loom] that weaves the inner thoughts of men."

[5]  The heavy guilt is carried by the player.

[6]  Instead of dropping guilt: say "You cannot!";

[7]  Below the Portrait Parlor is a Lair;

[8]  Inside the Lair are portraits left to rot;

[9]  Now,] understand "your secrets" as the portrait;

[10]  [Now] understand "your actions" as the loom;

[11]  "Our mind and thoughts compose the awful fortress.

[12]  To have our deeds exposed is mankind's doom."

[13]  Instead of putting [all your dark] guilt on:
[14]         End the story finally saying "It's done.";


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