Death of The Author - Tray

 What is death of the author?


According to tvtropes.org, death of the author “is a concept from mid-20th Century literary criticism; it holds that an author's intentions and biographical facts (the author's politics, religion, etc) should hold no special weight in determining an interpretation of their writing.” The theory stems from Roland Barthes, a French literary theorist. 


To be clear, it is not the author actually perishing, but instead, a theory. While the creator of a piece of literature is technically the author of it, death of the author argues otherwise, saying that the intent of the author should be ripped away from their work. The theory suggests that the reader, not the creator, is the ultimate interpreter of the work. Death of the author isn’t a theory stuck in writing, even though that is what this blog will be primarily discussing, it can also be applied to many different types of media, like philosophy, art, dance, etc. 


Many English teachers, students, critics, and historians seem to not follow the theory of death of the author. Instead, they spend years of their life trying to find the true symbolism of a piece; what the author really meant when they wrote that the curtains were blue. They use the author’s literature to indicate what period of life they were in, what major events they were experiencing, and how all of that background affected their writing. 


So, what is the point of this theory? When would death of the author be important, what is the point of it, and how can it be applied?


When authors retcon their stories, readers usually get frustrated because the new information disrupts the continuity of the story, or there was no indication of that piece of information being true in the literature itself. This is an example of an author forcing their intent onto the readers after the literature is consumed. One famous case of this is J.K. Rowling, creator of the prized Harry Potter series. 


Rowling is famous for retconning her characters, for instance, saying that Dumbledore was gay or that Hermione had an ambiguous skin color. While these comments are controversial on whether they are “good” or “bad”, believers of “the author’s word is god” would probably see these comments as canon, while others would ignore the comments or at least not care for them. This is a decision that you, consciously or unconsciously, have to make. To kill, or not to kill: That is the question. 


Death of the author might even be the answer to another problem: Should you enjoy the art of a despicable creator? If you firmly believe in death of the author, you could go on without guilt and keep engaging in the artist’s media. However, if you believe that the creator’s opinions and beliefs are a key factor in their art and how it is spread/interpreted, perhaps you will boycott their works and warn others in reading it. 


So. back to the first question: Should you kill the author? Does the author deserve to die? 


The most common answer is “sometimes”, but it’s up to you, the reader, to decide. 







(Maybe just stab them a little bit.)

Comments

  1. MaggieNovember 2, 2020 at 8:29 AM

    This is a really interesting blog post! This kind of reminds me of all those memes about English teachers ravishing simple sentences such as "the chair was blue." People do seem to really try to understand what the author was going for without interpreting for themselves. I do believe that in some cases, the author and story or art piece should be more separated because the reputation of the author can tarnish a nice work. I think the example that comes up immediately is, like you mentioned, JK Rowling. I believe she tweeted some transphobic things but I think we should still appreciate Harry Potter for what it is.

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  2. Fallon McFarlandNovember 11, 2020 at 8:16 AM

    I also think this is an interesting idea to contemplate. As you first explained the concept, my first thought was "ew, no, the author is super important!" However, after reading the whole post, I am not convinced anymore. On the one hand, the author's experience is important to consider, as that may influence their depiction of certain groups of people in their work, and there is definitely some intention behind any piece of writing. I suppose trying to identify that could aid in isolating the book from its potentially biased origins. But I agree that a disagreeable artist should not prevent people from enjoying and benefiting from an otherwise great work. Though, again, those negatives should not be ignored entirely in the context of the book, as negative messages could spread and we should be aware of them. But the purpose of a book can extend past the author's intent! I think I just re-summarized your article for you. You're welcome. Great job!

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