Sunday, September 11, 2011

Prospective Writers Learn From Dead Authors

I understand the arguments of Barthes and Foucault when they reason that there is no individual "author", that "author" is just term used in the same way training wheels are used on a bicycle, to keep our literary thoughts balanced, limited, and in a singular line. And although I appreciate Foucault slightly more for considering the author as a "signifier", as opposed to Barthes's "scriptor", I think both completely undervalue the talent and effort of the writer.

Does the genius lie in the art or the artist? I'm not sure, but I am sure that not just anyone can write a work of literary value, in fact great writers are very rare. Something must be said about the skill of the author, the skill that makes them so unique and is the reason why we study them so thoroughly. Sure authors write about the experiences they have taken in, but they are far from simple "scriptors", and the good ones never write, as Barthes put it, "as quickly as possible what the head is unaware of". Writers like Joyce and Faulkner pick every single word for a specific reason. The text may be somewhat "drawn from the innumerable centers of culture", but, because every author is unique, every text is a unique "tissue".

Barthes says that "the writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior never original". In complete contrast, Ong says, "an 'original writer' can do more than project the earlier audience, he can alter it". Original writers are rare, but, like Hemingway, they do exist and must exist for how would the way stories are written change without them? Stories today have altered extremely from the stories of old. This change proves there is originality amongst writers.

Finally, if we were to assume that "authors" don't exist, then who are we, as English majors and prospective authors, supposed to be learning from? Why do we read novels and discuss specific literary styles and voices? If all that is written is a product of epistemes and current culture then why don't we just study culture? We can't if we wish to learn. We must read Joyce, Faulkner, and Hemingway and appreciate the authors they were and how they changed the way stories are told. They may not have complete authorship over their work's entirety, but they are original, their works are complex and amazing, and much can be learned through the study of them as authors. Writing is an art. Scripting and signifying are not.

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