❖ MANIFESTO

On the End of the Reader and the Return of the Dangerous Author

We live in an era where texts are no longer read —

they are operated.

Text has become an interface —

efficient, predictable, and safe:

— for entertainment,

— for confirmation of views,

— for quick identification of "friend or foe."

But not for thinking.

The reader did not disappear because people grew stupid,

but because reading has ceased to be a risk.

1. The Reader as a Lost Subject

Classical literature presupposed danger.

Not violence, not provocation, but the possibility of change.

A reader entered a text not knowing:

· whether they would emerge the same,

· whether the meaning would match their expectations,

· whether their position would remain intact.

The modern cultural system has eliminated this risk.

Algorithms, genres, marketing, and "clarity"

have turned reading into a safe act of consumption.

Today's reader does not seek a question —

they seek confirmation.

2. The Death of the Author Was Convenient for the System

When Roland Barthes declared the "death of the author,"

he did not foresee his thesis becoming an instruction manual.

The author vanished as a source of danger

and was replaced by:

· a brand,

· a function,

· a content provider.

The system gladly accepted this:

an author without a position is convenient,

an author without risk sells better,

an author without ontology does not resist.

But the reader died along with the author.

3. Why "Writing Well" is Not Enough Today

Contemporary literature is overflowing with:

· style,

· technique,

· correctness,

· "relevant topics."

But it is almost devoid of ontological pressure.

Texts do not call into question:

· the subject,

· freedom,

· responsibility,

· the very possibility of understanding.

They describe the world,

but do not threaten its structure.

And without threat, there is no thinking.

4. The Author as a Point of Resistance

An author is not obliged to be pleasant.

Not obliged to be clear.

Not obliged to be approved.

Their only obligation —

is to hold a position they are willing to pay for.

Not with money.

But with solitude, misunderstanding, slow growth.

An author is not one who tells stories.

An author is one who holds the question,

even when demanded to provide an answer.

5. Why Write at All Today

If a text:

· does not change the structure of perception,

· does not create internal conflict,

· does not disturb cognitive comfort,

then it fulfills only one function —

to soothe the system.

I do not write to be understood.

Nor do I write to be recognized.

I write knowing this position has a cost.

I write because:

· language can still resist,

· meaning is not yet fully automated,

· the reader can still be restored —

  not as a consumer, but as a subject.

6. This is Not a Call to Arms or a Program

This is not a movement.

Not a school.

Not a genre.

It is a position.

This is not elegant. It is necessary.

If this text causes irritation —

it is fulfilling its function.

If it makes you want to argue —

it has already begun to work.

If it causes silence —

then it has hit the mark.

Navi Musaget