Ever since Gutenberg invented movable type we have lived in a culture dominated by print. Now we are in the midst of a communications revolution as profound as that which saw the printed book replace oral and manuscript texts. Hypertext- a way of connecting text, pictures, film, and sound in a nonlinear manner by electronic links- not only creates the forking paths and blind alleys of the electronic labyrinth but also provides our means of navigating through it. Hypertext is dramatically changing how we read and write, how we teach reading and writing, and how we define literary practices.

In her knowledgeable guide to this revolutionary work, Ilana Snyder gives a lucid and straightforward overview of the radical effects that hypertext is having on textual practices. Focusing on what we mean by text, author, and reader, she explores the connections between the practical experience of hypertext and some of the key insights found in the works of critical theorists such as Barthes and Derrida, and hypertext theorists Land and Joyce. Neither a computer evangelist nor a fearful Luddite, she assesses the implications for education of reading and writing in hypertext.