Brain Food #450
The Death of the Author
Daily Brain Food.
Thoughts of the day
Can the work ever be detached from its maker? I recently had a discussion with someone who pointed out the book I was reading was written by a slightly controversial persona, to put it mildly.
The Odyssey had no writer, so the world made up Homer. Should a story always be tied to its teller? And do we always have to read thoughts we agree with? Perhaps this an accidental premise for a more traditional form of an echo chamber, albeit a self-imposed one.
Roland Barthes wrote The Death of the Author, an essay in which he argues that the text and its writer should become entirely detached the moment the act of writing stops. “To give a text an author,” he said, “is to impose a limit on that text.” The same stands for every work that has an output, from a painting to a product. Its final purpose and meaning come not from what was intended with it when created, but how it was eventually received — and understood — by its audience.
That is also why the act of creation is ultimately a selfless act. The moment you release something you make into the world, it is no longer yours.