The web-based work was a runner-up to the ELO Fiction award in 2001 and was described by judge Larry McCaffery as an "absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, mystifying, cryptifictional hyper-assemblage".
[1] Lisa Swanstrom describes it as "a fragmented narrative visually complemented by empty grids, snippets of source code, and cluttered signs of death and mourning.
Aaron Angello explains that each section explores "the complex relationship and illusory borders between subject and machine, between reader and text, between human language and computer code, and between flesh and silicone.
Lexia to Perplexia was coded in Dynamic HTML and JavaScript,[2] and no longer works in contemporary web browsers.
[11] As Aaron Angello writes, "If digital literature and poetry can be said to have a canon, Lexia to Perplexia is a central part of it.