Disentangling Barthes

I found it ironic that the text that contained Barthes’ essay prefaced “The Death of the Author” with a brief biography. The irony lies in how Barthes’ essay argues for the deconstruction of a text, that an active reader disentangles away from the Author. When one is too focused on who the Author is it clouds the writing, Barthes claims it kills voice. In order to do so the capital-A Author must “die” and what proceeds is the “birth” of the reader.            

But what does “voice” mean to Barthes? Is it the writing acting as it’s own agent through the agency of language in order to communicate? Is it the conglomeration of thoughts and fabrications in the author’s mind that came together to formulate the text? I understand the idea that separating the Author from a text is metaphorical but I find it difficult to completely exclude the Author’s role in readership. It almost seems contradictory present the loss of “a point of origin” meanwhile cutting off the role of the Author. Do not both “kill” or rather twist meaning and intent?

I don’t think it’s possible for words to be neutral as best as we may try to view them with a clear and unbiased mind. But I suppose then this is how “language...speaks, not the author” and then it is the reader who takes the text through their worldview. (Barthes 875) It almost seems as if the Author is powerless in relation to the reader despite intent and despite the whole deal that goes behind the concept of an Author being this “figurehead” or “tyrant”. It’s interesting in comparison to Walter Ong’s concept of the Author is this leader who tries to precipitate in his writing in order to serve an audience.

I understand the claim that “to give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text”. (Barthes 877) In order to truly read a text for what it is one must open their mind so to speak and unravel a text to create true meaning. But perhaps those are not the best words in order to explain deconstruction, when unpacking a text it is important to not isolate variables but rather viewing them juxtaposed against one another, how they relate and contrast. Intertextuality is vital and it involves the relationships between texts. If the reader views various discourse simultaneously with text they can truly then disentangle. Like a puzzle they can take parts away and put them back together to garner various meanings, the Author, writer, and reader truly all work with one another in order to create.

A quote from Marcel Duchamp comes to mind in regards to the writer/author relationship as one that works off the other. He said “All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.” It clearly communicates the concepts Barthes was communicating in a more articulated, succinct way. Although the quote is in regards to “creative art”, the idea is still applicable. Readers and writers are collaborators and aid one another but are still their own distinct, individual agents.

Marcel Duchamp quote source: http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/08/23/the-creative-act-marcel-duchamp-1957/