Exchange
... one does not narrate to "amuse," to "instruct," or to satisfy a certain anthropological function of meaning; one narrates in order to obtain by exchanging ...
Barthes, 89
What do critics obtain in exchange for their texts, if they are not intended
to instruct? Or do they not consider their texts narratives? Or, to think of
this problem in terms of hypertext, what does the hypertext author gain from giving
their work to the reader to manhandle ? Perhaps
the hypertext author gains the reader's investment in the work.
The text, and the author with it,
does not "die" when it is constantly being
(re)written by the reader. The hypertext author, then, has the most important thing of
all to gain--life.
