Electronic writing is a term given to describe written works composed on and read from the computer screen. Computer technology simplifies the process of reading and interpreting hypertext. Hypertext, literally meaning 'extended text' simplifies structures within the work into a network of textual elements and connections. This simplifies the construction and reading of layered writing, the footnotes on footnotes and the interlinking and reorganisation of paragraphs. Such interlinking abilities mean that reading many layers of text is relatively effortless and thus an extended meaning can be more readily gained, hence the relevance of the title; extended text allows an extended meaning.

The development of electronic writing has been greeted as the liberation of the reader, because it places the reader in control of the work, the readerly text. However, according to the post structuralists, this has always been the case. The post structuralist view of literature asserts that the reader/writer distinction has always been blurred due to the play of signs inherent in any written work. What the writer writes is not necessarily what the reader interprets. Likewise, the play of signs within the work also dictate that a point of closure may never be reached.

Intertextuality has always been a part of literature, with works being interpreted in terms of other works. A literary text is made up of a mosaic of quotations. What the reader reads and interprets from a text is based upon other works that he/she has read and interpreted. The Simpsons, an American animated sitcom draws in reference after reference from popular culture to provide a cohesive and detailed whole. Likewise, Salvador Dali, arguably the most well known of the surrealist painters combines conventional cues within an altered environment to allow the viewer to make his or her own interpretations from the visual cues provided. Indeed many of the post modernist pop artists, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, use intertextuality as the basis for their work. Pulp Fiction, as the name suggests, draws its basic references from 1950s pulp novels. Even psychological theory suggests that basic human concepts of recognition are based on cues of reference and recognition.

Most literature already is and always has been in a hypertext format. James Joyce's Ulysses is indicative of a hypertext style of writing within the printed text. Likewise Pulp Fiction, although not a novel, conveys the hypertext format of interlinked meanings. Hypertext is not solely the domain of the electronic writers, it has been present for a long time in both the written work and in cinema.

Whilst the technological determinists greet electronic writing as the liberation of the reader it soon becomes aparrent that the structures being greeted within electronic writing have long been present in literature and art. However, where the printed work is fixed on paper, and as such, must be read in the order dictated by the writer the electronic medium allows the reader to determine in what order the components are read. Thus the order in which the reader reads the text may determine his opinion on the given text. This may be evident in an arguement such as the sampling/ copyright debate.

The rise of electronic writing and the supposed death of the author parallel very closely the role of cinema, the action film and John Wayne.

This structure of this document is an attempt to replicate the rhizome, a non-hierarchical organic system, with no central organizing element, just a number of unrelated plants grouped together. Theoretically, every page is independent, yet intergrated and subsequently, any page should be accesible from any other page.