Overview

“The Death of the Author” is a famous essay by French theorist Roland Barthes. It attacks the traditional method of literary criticism that focuses on the author’s life, psychology, and intentions to explain a work (e.g., “What did Shakespeare mean by this?”). Barthes argues that once a text is written, the author “dies,” and the text becomes a free-floating web of citations that is activated only by the reader.

Core Idea

The core idea is the liberation of the reader. If the author is the “God” of the text who fixes its meaning, then the reader is just a passive consumer trying to guess God’s will. By “killing” the author, Barthes empowers the reader to produce their own meanings. The text is not a message from a sender to a receiver; it is a multi-dimensional space where various writings blend and clash.

Formal Definition

It is a shift from Author-centric criticism (Romanticism, Positivism) to Text-centric and Reader-centric criticism (Post-Structuralism). It posits that the “Author” is a modern invention and that writing (écriture) destroys every voice and every origin.

Intuition

Imagine you find a message in a bottle on the beach. You don’t know who wrote it. You read it and find meaning in it based on your own life and the words on the page. The writer’s intention is gone; only the text remains. Barthes says all literature is like this message in a bottle. Even if we know the author’s name, we shouldn’t let that limit how we read the text.

Examples

  • J.K. Rowling: A modern example. Fans often reject Rowling’s later statements about her characters (e.g., “Dumbledore is gay”) if it isn’t in the books, or they reclaim the text despite disagreeing with her politics. This is “Death of the Author” in action.
  • The Intentional Fallacy: A similar concept from New Criticism, arguing that the design or intention of the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard for judging the success of a work of literary art.

Common Misconceptions

  • The author literally died: It is a metaphorical death of the author as the authority over meaning.
  • The text means nothing: It doesn’t mean the text is gibberish. It means the text has multiple meanings, none of which can be finalized by the author’s say-so.
  • Reader-Response Theory: A school of criticism that focuses entirely on the reader’s experience and how they construct meaning.
  • Intertextuality: The idea that every text is a mosaic of quotations from other texts. The author is not an original genius, but a mixer of pre-existing cultural scripts.
  • Post-Structuralism: The broader philosophical movement that questions fixed centers and origins (like the Author or God).

Applications

  • Literary Criticism: Critics focus on the structure of the text, its language, and its cultural codes rather than reading biographies.
  • Art Interpretation: Viewing a painting without needing to know the artist’s tragic backstory to appreciate it.
  • Legal Theory: “Originalism” (what the founders meant) vs. “Living Constitution” (what the text means today) parallels the Author vs. Reader debate.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Political Responsibility: If the author is dead, can we hold them accountable for hate speech or plagiarism? Some argue we need the author to assign ethical responsibility.
  • Minority Discourse: For marginalized groups (women, people of color) who are finally gaining a voice, “killing the author” can seem like a way to silence them just as they start to speak.
  • Foucault’s “What is an Author?”: Michel Foucault responded to Barthes, arguing that the “Author-function” is still a necessary way we organize and classify texts in our culture.

Further Reading

  • Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” 1967.
  • Foucault, Michel. “What is an Author?” 1969.
  • Wimsatt, W.K. and Beardsley, M.C. “The Intentional Fallacy.” 1946.