text

Text, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the “wording of anything written or printed; the structure formed by the words in their order; the very words, phrases, and sentences as written.” Such a definition allows for text to be considered as both the written words in general, and, more holistically, as the combination of such written words to form a structure that produces meaning. Thus, the definition of text moves between text and textuality, moving from a singular word or symbol to a symbolic structure woven by the threads of language. Here, the history of the word text itself becomes crucial; text, stemming from tex-ere (to weave), is the “tissue of a literary work. . . .literally that which is woven, web, texture.” As a texture, text is the weaving of words, ideas, and meaning, and it is also, most importantly, a texture spun by language, which in theory has become destabilized, a tangle of meaning and symbol. Therefore, text, as textuality, has become a site of theoretical criticism and argument as the identity of the true spinners of text has been called in to question. That is to say, theoretical movements have begun to examine where meaning lies within text, and who contributes to the final pattern. Does meaning emerge from authorial intention, from the structure of the text itself, or from the reader’s own contributions ? The pattern and threads of text have unraveled, leaving literary and linguistic theorists to weave together the structures of language and meaning, and to determine the limits and pathways created by text.

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