Offing the Author

            Roland Barthes’ “Death of the Author,” suggests that for a genuine criticism of a specific work, the reader must separate the work from its origin. Since the work then is completely separated from the time, place, and mind-set of the writer, the work then becomes a fluid piece—a piece that is not limited by time and space. Therefore, Barthes suggests, that to be an effective writer is to distance oneself from the assumed notions or correlations based on a collective consciousness. And then it is assumed then that the reader will not take into consideration the underlying social patters/stigmas that may have influences the piece. If the work does its job correctly, then it should be able to stand alone.

            I agree with the idea that a work of art should not rely on a “collective consciousness” or collective understanding. Yet, at the same time, I am a fan of New Historicism, which directly refutes Barthes’ argument. In New Historicism, the reader can use research to investigate what may have provoked the author’s direction in the piece. According to Barthes’, the piece is not completed until it is experienced by the reader. Without the reader, there is no real reason to write. It is with the reader that the real sub-text and meaning are reveal through the reading—and the destination of the piece cannot be controlled by the writer, because it lies with the reader.

            The most important concept in Barthes’ “Death of the Author” is multi-dimensional space. Even though it is almost impossible to create a completely original piece, writers have to be able to manipulate the elements to create their own take on a specific plot. If the writer is unable to acknowledge the “age old” aspects of a specific story, then they fall prey to a misinterpretation from the reader. The text has to be multi-dimensional in the respect that there has to be more to the story than just the time/context. Barthes explains that this multi-dimensional text must be able to use its words to explain its meaning, and not rely on what the reader can imply into the text. By doing this, the author would have created a solid Barthenian piece (yes, that is a made up word).

            Another way Barthes suggests to “kill off the author” is to create characters that are completely ambiguous. By having characters that are, as they were in Greek tragedies, completely free of an exact meaning, then the reader can become an integral part of the work. If a writer should push their agenda by having the character reveal the intent of the text, then the writer is committing a criminal act against the reader. Barthes infers that characters in a text should be free of messy archetypes, which would engage the reader with the analytic aspect of literature.

            In short, according to Barthes, literature (or any art for that matter) should not have all of the answers laid out for the reader. Reading a text should be an active process where the author does not inflect into the reader what the purpose of the text is. Since, it is with the reader that the meaning of the text resides. 

Work Cited

Barthes, Roland. "The Death of the Author."