Derrida reminds us that the author function is a construction by which we are taught to read literature by. It is essentialized by conventional teachings. It says that when we read a work by a cerain author, we come to expect a certain style, or a certain genre that we have associated with that author. When the author decides to subvert this author function, it may disorent us, cause us to be perplexed and instill a sense of vertigo. But this author function is not always necessary, we just have grown accustomed to essentializing it. It is something which we use to label things with, but as hypertext proves, the traditional notion of author and authorial control over meaning, can be very shifty at times. Hypertext, by giving the illusion that there is a person interacting with you, reclaims the oral tradition through writing. Insead of providing for a nice, neat packaging, it provokes intense thought and criticism and thus attemps to fix what Derrida sees as one of western culture's major flaws




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