Hypertext in literary art as a technology and as a metaphor. An example from "Endless Dead End" by D.E. Galkovsky.

The subject of the study is hypertext in literary fiction. The research aims to determine which object is most aligned with the classical definition of hypertext, established in domestic scientific discourse since the 1970s, which implies software for hyperlinks, computer presentation of the resulting system of text integration, interactivity, and user influence on the unfolding structure of hypertext. However, in literary studies, hypertext is interpreted broadly, sometimes as any nonlinear narrative or as a narrative with reading instructions, featuring an oversized scientific-referential apparatus. In our view, such usage of the concept is metaphorical and bears no research value. We systematically distinguish between metaphorical and literal uses of the concept of hypertext and point to a specific example of hypertext in 20th-century literary fiction: the web version of D.E. Galkovsky's novel "Infinite Dead End." In this work, we employed methods from the history of concepts, semantic analysis, media studies, receptive aesthetics, and empirical comparative analysis. The main contribution of this work to domestic scientific discourse is the assertion of the necessity for a strict application of the concept of hypertext in literary analysis. We demonstrated the evolution of the concept in domestic scientific discourse and summarized the work of colleagues in this area. We proposed a strict and expanded version of the definition of the concept and developed an established thesis in domestic science regarding the existence of the metaphor and mythologem of hypertext, alongside actual hypertext. The work also advances a methodological thesis on the necessity of cross-referencing a literary text defined as hypertext with a standard or model. We analyzed "Infinite Dead End" by D.E. Galkovsky from the perspective of its various media presentations and proposed the thesis that the web version of the novel is a benchmark of postmodern artistic hypertext.

hypertext, postmodernism, D.E. Galkovsky, history of concepts, literary theory, Infinite Dead End, hypertextuality, non-linear narrative, methodology of literary studies, 20th century