Death of an Author

We were given a text taken and translated by Barthes, which talks about the death of todays author, I found the text incredible hard to read and understand, but understandably it was written in 1968 and has been translated from french to english, so some of the translation may be hard to replicate.

Shooting the messenger: Barthes, Foucault and the death of the Author

The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author

Grand Narratives or Meta narratives, which explain 'the way things are' for example religion, science, philosophy, etc, etc.

Quote from Barthes - ‘The image of literature to be found in ordinary culture is tyrannically centered on the author, his person, his life, his tastes, his passions, while criticism still consists for the most part in saying that Baudelaire’s work is the failure of Baudelaire the man, Van Gogh’s his madness, Tchaikovsky’s his vice. The explana'on of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were always in the end, through more or less transparent allegory of the fiction, the voice of a single person, the author “confiding” in us.’

The important and meaningful parts of the text "Death of the Author"

Barthes speaks of the suppression of ' the author in the interests of writing, which is to restore the place of the read.

It is language that speaks, not the author. (the chose of words used that help describe and represent the meaning)

‘the author, when believed in, is always conceived as the past of his own book: book and author stand automatically on a single line divided into a before and after. The Author... exists before it, thinks, suffers, lives for it, is in the same relation of antecedence to his work as a father to his child.’

( In other words the author will have a very strong connection and view of their book, they may have personal experience and relation to the book, making it very personal to them)

Whereas ‘the modern scriptor is born simultaneously with the text... there is no other time than that of the enunciation and every text is eternally written here and now’

A text is not a line of words releasing a single “theological” meaning (the “message” of the Author-God) but a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash. The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.

(Reference from personal view and Lecture)

Abstract Expressionism 

an artistic movement of the mid-20th century comprising diverse styles and techniques and emphasizing especially an artist's liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational means

It's a form of art that allows the picture, painting, or art work tell the story of what it represents and the means, also open to much interpretation and debating among the meaning behind the work. 

Example of these abstract expressionism 

David Salle (1990) Mingus in Mexico
Gerhard Richter (1985) Station; Fiona Rae (1996) Bandit

Mark Rothko, Coloured lined drawing paintings 

Jackson Pollock paint splatting work


(Reference from Lecture)

Birthing the reader 

In today, players can literally take control of the story instead of being able to read the story, many games offer many paths in which the story of the text can change. Most game do not need to be narrated, as the player can write the story, in other words become a god of the game. 

Michel Foucault wrote 'what is an author?' wrote  'Categorisation of works by concept, genre, school, etc. ‘seem relatively weak... in comparison with the solid and fundamental unit of the author and the work.’ The name of the author, then, fulfils a ‘classificatory function'.

The author provides the basis for explaining not only the presence of certain events in the work, but also their transformations, distortions, and diverse modifications


(Reference from Lecture)

The New Questions

Michel Foucault see's text as a weapon, example of this can be seen in the anti Vietnam war that America was involved in, using words and images to combine the powerful message.

Text can be used as the same as images, an image that can show a message, hidden or not can still create an iconic symbol to represent it's statement. 

Something to Consider

• Is this an issue that concerns you?

This doesn't concern, as even today we are exploring and creating new ideas of delivering and creating narratives and messages within today's society, if we were to just stick to one style we would end up copying each other methods of presenting an important message and the people will get bored and lose interest, so by exploring new ways of creating messages within art and text is ver important.

• To what extent is the author function present in games?

I feel the authors function in today's game has greatly improved to a certain extent, Technology is allowing authors to create fare better narratives and story structures, because of the limitless advancement within technology  we are able to go to much better levels, and explore the possibilities in which we can present our new media forms.

• Is the author still a classificatory function in games?

Games today such as The Sims are even allow people to make their own story, but this still doesn't eliminate the main function of an author as an author is still present to represent the preset story's within the game, that players can continue or rewrite. It is now I see it as an ever more requirement for a good story and good gameplay to make games in today's media work.

• Or does the narrative itself take precedence?  

It seems the more and more players want to be able to play their own story's within a games, e.g. RPG games, as once again Technology is ever advancing allow players to have the abilities to create their own character, and imagination, such as Little Big Planet and Skyrim.

(Reference from personal view and Lecture)