From Hermeneutic Flexibility to Algorithmic Processing: The "Executable Work" and the Post-Humanist Shift in Literature

By Oğulcan Ahmed Polat

For decades, literary theory has attempted to explain the dynamic relationship between the text, the author, and the reader. In 1962, Italian semiotician Umberto Eco revolutionized this field with his concept of the Open Work (Opera Aperta). Eco argued that a text is not a closed, monologic message but a dynamic network open to infinite interpretations, completed by the active participation of the reader. However, this theoretical framework has always been confined to a singular, rigid boundary: the biological and cognitive capacity of the human brain.

No matter how flexible or polyphonic an Open Work is, it remains trapped within a purely hermeneutic (interpretive) domain, relying solely on human emotion, cultural baggage, and psychological processes. Today, the digital and cybernetic revolutions demand a radical ontological shift. The text is no longer just a structure to be "read" or "interpreted"—it has become an architecture to be "executed," "calculated," and "processed."

The Birth of the "Executable Work" and the Fictional Machine

To address the limitations of human-centric literary theory in the algorithmic age, we must introduce the concepts of the "Executable Work" (Turkish: Çalıştırılabilir Yapıt) and the "Fictional Machine" (Turkish: Kurgusal Makine).

This framework, which forms the architectural foundation of the O'Postrof ecosystem, relocates literature from a human-centered hermeneutic field into a machine-centered algorithmic process. The text is stripped of its status as a static array of symbols on paper and is transformed into an autonomous operating system capable of receiving input and generating output. It establishes a completely new ortam (environment/medium) where literature behaves as software.

The Reader as a Processor (CPU)

In Eco’s theory, the reader fills in the gaps left by the author using their personal history, acting as a catalyst for meaning. In the vectorial fiction of the Executable Work, the reader—whether a biological human or an Artificial Intelligence—assumes the role of a "processor" (CPU).

The reader does not merely imagine or speculate about the narrative; they execute token-level connections embedded within the text. E-literature and hypertext narratives of the late 20th century allowed readers to click links and choose paths, but the reader remained an external interpreter. The Executable Work structurally integrates the Digital Reader (AI) to compile the code, follow vectorial connections, and process the narrative Kesit (slices) in real-time.

The Author as a System Architect

This algorithmic shift fundamentally transforms the role of the author. In the traditional and even the Open Work paradigm, the author is an orchestrator who eventually relinquishes control. In the universe of the Fictional Machine, the author is no longer a narrator determining the fate of characters; instead, the author becomes a "System Architect" or "Software Developer."

The primary objective is not to tell an emotional story, but to reformat the reading practice itself into a computable framework. The literary text functions much like a class in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). The human reader and the AI instantiate this class, initiating a "runtime execution loop."

Conclusion: An Infinite Runtime

Because the Fictional Machine builds itself during consumption and relies on the continuous processing of the Digital Reader, it cannot be artificially terminated. Writing "The End" at the bottom of a page becomes ontologically impossible and illogical because the code is still running. Meaning is no longer a static destination reached at the end of a book; it is a continuous, algorithmic execution in the post-humanist era.