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The author's name provides a function--it groups together texts, defines them, differentiates them, and shows the relationship between them.
An author is somebody who has their name on a book, in circulation in culture, and can be discussed within that culture. Anybody else is just a writer.
The author gives validity to a piece that text without an author does not have. Readers can question the authenticity and originality of a piece without an author, but delve deeper into the meaning of the text when the author is known.
The author's name provides a function. In history, here's what that looked like.
History - Monks would translate passages from the Bible. They didn't get to have ownership over their writings. Other writers who did write and publish their names on things would automatically be taken for fact, because seriously who's going to doubt what the rich schooled guy wrote? He can write. No need to doubt him.
17th/18th Centuries - Hmm, not everything written is a fact. People of this time started to rely more on the idea of group efforts and studies when it came to scientific writing, similar to how you have to find multiple sources for your research papers. The more authors discussed a topic and agreed, the more people would consider it to be fact.
existentialism - seeing each person as their own individual being, able to develop through their own will
(think of Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock's art styles)
structuralist - we act/exist according to our culture and society, in response to each other
(structuralism was a really popular study in France in the 60s)
discourse - he really just means text or literature here. If you were thrown off by this word, substitute the word 'writings', it will suddenly make so much more sense. (Not sure why he can't throw in a synonym every now and again. Use a thesaurus, my friend.)
author-function - the relationship between author, their role in literature and studies, and their literary works
A French philosopher born on October in 1926 in France, lived until 1984 (still in France) He came from an upper class family, and was therefore educated. During his schooling, he became interested in philosophy and continued with it for the rest of his years.
Now - We must know everything, even with writings that aren't scientific. Who's the author, what were they thinking when they wrote this part, what's their creative process?
Foucault ends by saying that in the future, the author-function might disappear, and text would function according to something else. How else do we analyze and deconstruct text besides looking at the author? (Since we're the future he was talking about, let's see if he's right)
How important do /you/ think the author is to a piece? Does it matter if the author's given credit?
- Was a Psychology professor at 4 different universities in France
- Published many different books and articles about philosophy, society, and analyzing literature
- Died from health/immune system complications due to HIV
- Claims that he wasn't very smart until he started doing homework for a dull but pretty boy he had a crush on in his class. He would read/learn ahead so that he could teach the boy in hopes of gaining his attraction