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Coover's "The End of Books," like many initial reactions to hypertext, viewed electronic writing
as liberation. A great deal of this reaction
to hypertext, however, left out the other dimensions of its constitution. In particular, the
question of linearity ignores the multimedia aspect of hypertext.
Ted Nelson (often quoted and celebrated as the creator of the term "hypertext")
felt hypertext was an extension of media, especially film, because of its highly
visual nature; yet he believed hypertext would exceed film because of its
enhanced participatory structure. To return to Nelson's original vision, then, is also
to return to the difficult question of what hypertext does, what it promises (if anything), and what
the repeated calls of "ends" do within the framework of multimedia. In other words, why do we
want history to close upon itself and end when media development often does the opposite?
Does the "end of books" inevitably lead to an "end of hypertext"
as Coover recently suggests?
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