Experiences of Textuality: from the Oulipo to the Cyborg Author of the Digital Age

This thesis is concerned with the interaction between the three factors that govern meaning-creation in literature: the author, the reader, and the text. Starting with 1960s experimental literature, I will examine how the text influences its own perception, how language affects the act of reading, and how the author/reader power structure can be challenged by new, innovative mediums whose characteristics incur counter-cultural readings. The ultimate aim of this thesis is not to analyze these mediums as separate phenomenons, but rather as part of a large artistic continuum; as such, the conclusions drawn from their analysis will concern the larger fields of literature, artistic production, and the political structures they exist in. I will also use the concept of “fanfiction” to develop a philosophical reflection against the concept of intellectual property as it exists, before examining the aesthetic qualities of AI-generated literature, as well as what it reveals on the mystified social nature of literary production.