On Electronic authorship

From English 194 Wiki Site

Reading is an act of submission. In order to read a text properly, especially one that is creative, one must relinquish, as best as possible, their preexisting biases and emotional hopes and fears. Novels are only open to interpretation in so far as the author deems necessary to get his message across. If we bring 'ourselves' into the novel, then we are selfishly engaging in conflict with the author. From conflict may arise knowledge, which is fantastic, but it steals the power from the author. The anti-authoritarian in us all may relish this defiant opportunity, but if such is the case, why not leave the book on the shelf, or rather, burn it. There is a tacit contract to read with reckless abandon. But a greed-induced arrogance is slowly breaking the reigns of this agreement.

Readers will relish the ideology of electronic literature that allows them to manipulate, dictate, and even alter the text. However, the average reader is not an experienced author, so why should they be allowed to rewrite and revise someone else's literature? All they will be doing is fitting the material for their own ends. This is nothing but assisted journaling.

to be continued...