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e observed, some of which have been explored in this chapter and throughout this
whole thesis. Yet, just like is the case with hypertext fiction thi t di ha
, s s rong tra rtion s
been mostly overlooked by literature on the subject and again th t I' ,
e erm revo utionary IS
found more often than is justifiable.
While its contribution to literary studies in terms of questions raised and explored is
marginal, there are two other areas in which experiments in computer-generated writing
can make important contributions to the exploration of the computer as a literary
medium.
Firstly it provides an alternative to hypertext fiction. While they both certainly explore
similar questions and share a tradition in the experimental literature ofthe zoth century, I
have suggested above that computer-generated writing may be considered as more
radical, which is an argument I would like to explore here further.
Text generation programs and their output differ from hypertext applications in some
fundamental respects. The emphasis in more recent computer programs has been on
chance, use of random techniques and the deliberate lack of conscious design. In this
it is opposed to hypertext, which, though it can appear in the reading as confusing and
unstructured, is a highly structured textual network. An aspect which has implications on
the status and the role of both readers and authors. As I have tried to show in the
previous chapters, hypertext fiction theory claims to initiate a radical shift away from an
author-centred to an interactive reader-centred text, or, in Barthes) terms, from a writerly
to a readerly text. However, due to a combination of factors, not least the very literal
application of theoretical concepts of Barthes and also of reader-response theorists, the
opposite effect can be observed. A work of hypertext fiction requires a highly structured,
yet also a highly individual and personal network to be created by an author - leaving the
reader on the one hand free to explore the resulting textual network through many
different access paths, but on the other hand ultimately require him/her to re-create the
author's initial associations to be able to 'make sense' of the work. Hypertext fiction tries
to leave the distinction line between author and reader permeable or even to merge the
author and the reader function, yet effectively re-establishes the figure ofthe author.
Computer-generated writing programs - both the early attempts with the emphasis on
Chapter 5 - page 202