Permanent Evolution

E-Literature and (R)evolutions of Authorship and Readership

Abstract

Advances in computer coding and Internet technology are drastically redefining publishing and literature itself. This article examines how e-literature, literary texts dependent on code, differs from and works to supplement traditionally printed literature. In particular, e-literature alters traditional concepts of authorship and readership. A coded interface requires the input of a reader to generate a text; the resulting text is therefore a collaboration between the reader and the author, resulting in a change each time the text is read. . The article examines how hypertext pioneers have explored the possibilities offered by computer coding and the Internet, expanding the limits of literary creation and altering the very definition of literature itself.