Hypertext and the death of literariness

Abstract

This essay discusses hypertext reading from the perspective that the accumulation of electronic information amounts to a historical revolution that announces profound cultural changes rather than the mere addition of an alternative way of reading, faster and more efficient. The article suggests that literary reading will no longer happen as it was used to in the past. The tendency to build up cultural packages, fostered by the intense use of hypertexts, may affect intensely both the mode of reading and the quality of what is produced for reading. It is crucial, then, to reflect on the potential of this digital technology, since the internet, far from being simply an instrumental technology, constitutes a cultural environment capable of transforming identities