Rob Swigart, born in 1941, is an American writer and educator, as well as an archaeology scholar, satirist, and futurist. He earned his doctorate in comparative literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972 and has been a professor of English at San José State University since then. Swigart has published sixteen books and is a founding board member of the Electronic Literature Organization.
Among his many varied achievements, Swigart authored the interactive novel Portal (1986), developed by Nexa Corporation and published by Activision for home computers including the Amiga, Commodore 64, Apple II, IBM PC, and Macintosh. In this interactive computer experience, the player takes the role of an astronaut who returns to Earth after a failed mission and a hundred-year voyage back, only to find that all the humans have disappeared. Tapping into the global network called Worldnet through a barely functioning terminal, the unnamed astronaut engages HOMER, a holographic AI, digging into its memory to unravel the mystery of what has transpired. In the interview, Swigart reflects on his foundational work on the interactive novel; how his interests in anthropology, futurism, and science fiction informed his embrace of the form; and Portal’s continuing relevance for a new generation of game designers
SORAYA MURRAY 