"The Death of the Author"

After reading Rolan Barthes "Death of the Author" I found the overall topic of discussion to be really interesting, but specifially the parts in which he talked about Proust and Marllarme who were of the first writers to insist on letting the language speak, not the author. In no way were either men trying to dismiss the author or the author's thoughts, but instead reinforcing the importance of letting the language act instead of the author. Essentially the point made by a good majority of writing is to sway an audience to think a certain way, a good amount of writers have since tried to keep as neutral as possible on their writing subjects, but there is also a good amount that still are so much involved in their writing. The removal of the author is seen important to these men because these men see the author no more than the emptiness of the enunciation.

The major influence of the author, although at times refuted, can still be seen in todays world. It was difficult to find a post that specifically talked about this topic, but on the topic of author influence I came across this blog. Authorship is being discussed throughout this blog entry as a kind of peruasion particularly on young and impressionable minds with a focus on politics in periodicals. It is interesting to make the the disctinctions between what Proust and Marllarme were working towards in the literary world and the kind of literature that is being produced today.