Discussing the Role of the Author

In reading Barthe's The Death of the Author I constantly asked myself what the theorist would describe as the appropriate role of the author in literature. Barthe argues that in order for writing to be successful, the voice of the author must be repressed. He refers to the French writer Mallarme, who attempts to emphasize language instead of the writer's personality in his literature. In reference to Mallarme, Barthe states that "For him, for us too, it is language which speaks, not the author, to write is through a prerequisite impersonality...to reach that point where only language acts, 'performs,' and not 'me'" (Barthe 875). For Barthe, the proverbial death of the author occurs when language is the mode of "action" in literature. The presence of the author, according to the theorist, should be minimized if not completely absent.

While in theory I somewhat see where Barthe is coming from, it is hard for me to grasp how the complete absence of the writer is possible to achieve in most forms of literature. I have always been educated to view literature as an form of personal expression through language. In various other English classes I have taken in college (many of which I'm sure various other students in this blog discussion have as well), the notion of the "rhetorical situation" is applied to every genre. According to the rhetorical situation, all forms of writing have a purpose/message, a writer and an audience. In order for the purpose or message to be conveyed, a writer's voice seems to be unavoidable. However, with that being said, I feel that theorists like Barthe attempt to call into question the intricate relationship between the author and the text which he writes. While I feel that his piece is insightful and certainly valid in many aspects, his argument is incomplete, as he never truly attempts to define the role of the author. As for Foucault...the relationship between literature and the writer is defined in more concrete terms , but that is a topic saved for my next post.