A Note on the Concept of "Hypertext"

Abstract

Literary theorists have excelled at different definitions of the concept of "text." In handbooks of literary theory, "text" may mean discourse (or work of art), the most authoritative version of this discourse, or any system of signs – not to mention more arcane meanings. Presumably, this very wide use of the term text (text as just about anything that can be interpreted) reflects an aesthetic – the belief that there really are no autonomous works, no organic forms, and that everything created by man really is a flow of signs.