The Author and the Recipient in the Digital Space: A Critical Perspective in Light of Interactive Literature

Abstract

This paper investigates the structural and aesthetic transformations that have affected the duality (author/receiver) in light of the emergence of interactive literature, where the text is no longer a closed linguistic entity but rather a networked, transmedia space. The study seeks to interrogate classical critical assumptions, foremost among them "the death of the author," in order to trace how the author shifts from the authority of the "sole creator" to the role of the "technical architect," alongside the reconfiguration of the reader’s identity, who has moved from a consuming reader to a "participatory author" contributing to meaning-making through the probabilistic pathways enabled by hypertextual writing. The research examines the impact of the digital medium in breaking traditional hierarchies and transforming the act of reading into an immersive, negotiative experience that redefines literariness according to the demands of "digitalization." This, in turn, necessitates that literary criticism invent procedural tools capable of keeping pace with this shift from linear text to interactive text, and from interpretive reading to navigational practice.