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Death of the AuthorStudent Edition

• Roland Barthes
• Created by Brett Ader
• Based on a Presentation by Joseph Hall

Edited By Dr. Picart Associate Professor of
English Courtesy Associate Professor of Law
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Death of the Author

• Author- Someone who writes a book.
• In the Death of the Author, Barthes
  demonstrates that an author is more than a mere
  person.
• Person vs. Socially and Historically constituted
  subject
• Marxs Theory vs. Hegelian Theory
• Marx ________________
• Hegel ________________

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Continued..

• Barthes theory states that _____________________
  ____________________________________

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Barthes and Marx Would Have Been Friends

• Barthes/Marx History makes man. Writing makes
  author (man). Thus, does history make writing?
• Philosophy
• _________________
• _________________
• . History makes the writing

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Class Discussion

• Do you agree or disagree with Barthes theory
  that writing makes the author and not vice versa?

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Does the Author Have the Power?

• According to many contemporary theorists, they do
  not.
• Emile Beneviste the idea that the I of a
  sentence is different from the subject who speaks
  the sentence.
• - Ex. I went to the store.
• Beneviste believes the I could mean anyone who
  could say the sentence.
• According to Beneviste, the author does not have
  the power.

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Continued..

• Ferdinand de Saussure the idea that meaning
  does not belong to words but to the ________
• The Father of Structuralism
• __________________________
• __________________________
• __________________________

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And Continued.

• Examples of Pragmatic placement of language could
  include

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And Continued

• According to this, the author does not have the
  power. Instead, _________________________________
  __________________________________________________
  ____________________________

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Barthes Utopian DreamIs It Our Reality?What do
you think?
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Class Discussion

• Do you think that the learning process would be
  hindered if humans could not dissect writings and
  interpret them for himself/herself? Basically,
  what if we had to understand all writings at
  face-value?