Roland Barthes “Death of the Author” & Michel Foucault “What is the Author”

1. Ryan’s Presentation

a. Important Questions
i. Does intellectual property really exist?
ii. Where do we draw the line between common knowledge and intellectual property?
iii. Who or what is an author?
iv. What constitutes a work?

2. Michael Foucault

a. The author is not a person but a symbol in discourse
b. Would Romeo and Juliet be as influential without Shakespeare’s name attached?
c. The Author-Function
i. Today, people love the idea of an author function because it can make or break a work in terms of sales
ii. There is a difference between an author and a writer
iii. Society has created the author which aids in differentiating works/texts

3. Roland Barthes

a. The author/writer only has the power to mix writings
b. Originality is a false idea
c. Is anything authentic or original?
i. The Axis of Awesome video example
ii. Just because something isn’t new doesn’t mean it’s not original

4. Author-Function Revisited

a. Analyzing the author helps make things clear, but it also limits the audience’s interpretation of the text
b. Should what an author does affect how the audience judges/evaluates his/her work?
c. Audiences tend to make judgments about a work because of who the author is

5. Conclusion

a. Barthes and Foucault are reacting to theories that put a major focus on the author
b. They are taking one extreme over another
c. Maybe we need to realize that we can’t always understand exactly what the author is trying to say and begin interpreting texts for ourselves
d. Aristotle argues that the credibility of a work should be based on the text/words not the person doing the writing or speaking
e. Creation requires influence
i. “Everything is a Remix” example by Kirby Ferguson