Hypertextuality & The Literature of Exhaustion

[Sitaram]

Subtitled: My Sermon to Yahooligans

Today, in Yahoo chat (Entertainment & Arts Books &
Literature), I tried to discuss two different topics;
hypertextuality and John Barths Literature of Exhaustion.


We may possibly see the beginnings of hypertextuality in
Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, abandoning a linear
timeline narrative of events, and jumping back and forth, here
and there, in a quantum fashion. Hypertext culminates in the
HTML internet texts, where every word may be a link, jumping
to a different time, place and topic.



http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/postmodernism/exhaustion_quotes.htm





My post was met either with scathing indifference or else with
contempt, so I replied as follows:

It is also a handy excuse to get out of working and
thinking, by saying "this stinks" "that is dumb"... etc
Read deeply and widely, and hold your judgment in
abeyance. It is a common mistake of young people
to read just a little, and assume they know
everything.


In general, if anyone really has some intelligence,
understanding and insight, or something worthwhile
to say, then they will put it in some form on the
internet, in a blog, or message board, or at a
personal website, especially if they are online much
of the time anyway. If they do not, then their labor
is wasted, because others cannot read an enjoy and
find it in the search engines. So when someone tells
me they are very smart, I say, "Give me a link to
your writings." If they have none, then they are not
smart, either because they have nothing of value to
say, or because they are foolish in not posting their
valuable ideas.





There is no substitute for good hard regular work.
Read every day. Write every day, and save your
writings someplace. Avoid things which waste time,
like video games. It takes years of study and effort
to really develop yourself in some direction.

See also:



http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/postmodernism/barth.htm



http://mobydicks.com/lecture/JohnBarthhall/wwwboard.html



http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=389