Echoes of the hypertext and arche-writing in contemporary literature

Abstract

This paper establishes a relationship between the circulation of the word hypertext and the Derridian notion of "arche-writing" (“archi-écriture" in French), and tries to show how the event of hypertexts in computer programs echoes the very idea of arche-writing which Derrida introduces in his work Of Grammatology. Thus, both notions contribute to the non-fixation of senses, to the suspension and dissemination of meaning and reference, even though they seem to be “clarifying”, determining, encompassing the meanings. So, we would have dissemination by excess. The goal of this communication is to show how the dominant traits of a hypertext and Derridean “arche-writing” are present in contemporary literature, in its features of errancy and dispersion. Thus, art, literature, and particularly poetry hold their places in this universe of indetermination, looking for the fractures that will make it possible for them to flow to unsuspected directions, celebrating (or complaining) its non-accomplishment, its incompleteness.