Consider the possibility that every written work is a hypertext, a fabric of many works woven together. Despite how original, unique or authoritative any text might appear to be, it's really a hypertext with links into hundreds or thousands of other works. If we could see the complete dimensions of a Shakespeare play, we would see the links to all the works that influenced Shakespeare, whether these works were written or spoken, cultural or experiential. If we could see the hypertext dimensions of a single sentence and could diagram that sentence not based on grammar but based on meaning, we would follow the words in that sentence to other words in other sentences and words in those sentences on to other words in yet other sentences. We would see the great and fearful truth that all texts are hypertexts.
Nothing is original.
Everything is built on everything else. For my part, I've accepted my fate. I am a hypertext, and this article is not one, unified article. It's a hypertext incorporating what I've heard, learned, feared, and experienced. I'm okay with that.