English Honors Alum & MA Student Tristan Sheridan Publishes in FAURJ
Congratulations to Tristan Sheridan, current MA English student and alum of the Honors English and BA English programs on publication of her honors thesis project— “'You Don’t Get a Choice': Fallen Hero: Rebirth and Unsettling Expectations of Agency in Interactive Fiction”—in the FAU Research Journal (or FAURJ, vol 11) .
Sheridan was also awareded 1st Place in the Music, Art, Literature, Theater, History & Philosophy II Category at FAU's 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 9th, 2021.
Sheridan's article abstract is below:
Interactive fiction, by its very definition, grants its readers the ability to influence the direction of a text, much like the familiar Choose Your Own Adventure children’s books. However, the assumption that interactivity allows for increased reader agency has generated debate, as interactive texts can naturally only provide readers with as much agency as authors are willing to anticipate for and allow. The interactive novel series Fallen Hero is of particular relevance to this debate, as its protagonist’s struggle to maintain theiragency causes the series’ thematic content to mirror its form. Fallen Hero minimizes the reader’s agency even more than is strictly necessary within the formal constraints of the medium in order to enrich its narrative themes surrounding agency and build empathy for its protagonist, therefore embracing the limitations of agency that are inherently present within the interactive form as a strength rather than a failing.
You can read Sheridan's article— “'You Don’t Get a Choice': Fallen Hero: Rebirth and Unsettling Expectations of Agency in Interactive Fiction”—in FAURJ volume 11, the Summer 2022 issue.
Cocngratulations to Sheridan and her faculty advisor, Professor Timothy Miller on publication of this fantastic project!
