Hypertextual Literature Through the Lens of Poststructuralist Theory

Abstract

Hyperliterature is a part of digital culture. Computer technology has allowed writers to experiment with the fiction’s form. By structuring the text as a set of text fragments interwoven with links, writers have made the content of works more complex, while leaving the reader alone with hypertext. To structure and understand the specificity of such literature, however, it is not enough to understand the functioning of hypertext systems taken as the basis for the formal organization of the text. It is also necessary to comprehend the philosophical foundations on which hyperliterature relies in order to prove its axiological value. Thus, the novelty of the study lies in the consideration of hypertext literature through the prism of poststructuralist concepts, however, not from the point of view of identifying the features of structure (which often associated with the principles of deconstruction), but from the position of content and semantic content. For this purpose, the following tasks were set: to consider the key concepts of poststructuralist philosophy, to identify the features of hypertext literature based on the works of poststructuralists. Using the example of the hypernovel “My Body” by Sh. Jackson, we revealed that hypertext literature correlates with such theoretical concepts of R. Barthes, M. Foucault and J. Derrida as the death of the author, the possibility of multiple interpretation and the perfect text. These theories are united by the fact that they comprehend not only the text but also the process of reading, emphasizing how the role of the reader changes. The format of the article does not allow discussing other theories of poststructuralists, which allows to talk about the prospects for further study of this issue.

Keywords

• postmodernism
• poststructuralism
• deconstruction
• death of the author
• hypertext