Presentation on the literary concept of the "death of the author"

1. The Death of the Author
Art 109A: Art since 1945
Westchester Community College
Fall 2012
Dr. Melissa Hall
Viviana Ponton, Visual interpretation of the essay "The Death of
the Author" by Roland Barthes.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Death-of-the-Author/3068723

2. Death of the Author
The literary concept of the "death of
the author" was explored by the
French literary critic and cultural
theorist Roland Barthes in the
1960's
French critic and philosopher Roland Barthes, c. 1960
Image source: http://telos.tv/blog/

3. Death of the Author
He raised the question of where the
meaning of a text comes from
Image source:
http://bookblogs.ning.com/forum/topics/currently-reading-1?commentId=2071157%3AComment
%3A21273

4. Death of the Author
Is it in the text, or is it produced in
the act of reading?
Image source: http://www.dundrummethodist.com/dev/?page_id=76

5. Death of the Author
Traditionally, meaning was thought
to reside within the text, expressing
the original intention of the author
Image source:
http://www.123rf.com/photo_5600413_william-shakespeare-s-hamlet-original-middle-english-text-
from-the-first-folio-of-1623-with-stamp--s.html

6. Death of the Author
Barthes argued that this method of
criticism imposes limitations on the
text
“To give a text an Author is to
impose a limit on that text, to
furnish it with a final signified, to
close the writing.”
Roland Barthes, “Death of the Author”
Image source:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/07/25/all-the-worlds-a-stage-windsor-teen-to-raise-money-for-
school-by-reciting-shakespeare/

7. Death of the Author
Barthes argued that meaning is
produced in the act of interpretation
“It is language which speaks, not
the author.”
Roland Barthes, Death of the
Author
Image source: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/the-bible-on-one-page/

8. Death of the Author
“The essential meaning of a work
depends on the impressions of the
reader, rather than the "passions"
or "tastes" of the writer; "a text's
unity lies not in its origins," or its
creator, "but in its destination," or
its audience.”
“Death of the Author,” Wikipedia
Viviana Ponton, Visual interpretation of the essay "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes.
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Death-of-the-Author/3068723

9. Death of the Author
Barthes’ ideas are similar to those
expressed by Marcel Duchamp in
“The Creative Act”
“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 qualification and thus
adds his contribution to the
creative act.”
Marcel Duchamp, “The Creative Act,” 1957
John D. Schiff, Marcel Duchamp, 1958/1959
Image source:
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/11/view/2045/designboom-x-mas-picks-from-art-and-design-
auctions-kunsthaus-lempertz.html

10. Death of the Author
In literary theory, the “death of the
author” was accompanied by the
“birth of the reader,” and a new
emphasis upon reading and
interpretation as a creative act of
making meaning
Image source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2008_reading_book_3124785808.jpg

11. Death of the Author
In this view, reading is an activity
where meaning is produced, rather
than passively consumed
“The birth of the reader must be at
the cost of the death of the Author.”
Roland Barthes
Image source:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelblogs/271/43408/All+the+Cool+Kids+Read
+Books?destId=362644

12. Death of the Author
In the visual arts, the “death of the
author" was signaled by the shift
from the Abstract Expressionist
model of the picture as expression
of the artist's emotion towards a
new paradigm that focuses on the
viewer’s experience
Hans Namuth, Jackson Pollock in his Studio, 1950

13. Death of the Author
This applies as much to
Happenings, as it does to Post
Painterly Abstraction and
Minimalism
Ellsworth Kelly, Colors for a Large Wall, 1951
Museum of Modern Art

14. Death of the Author
Cancelling out the artist makes
room for the viewer to become
involved in completing the work
Yayoi Kusama, Mirror Room - Phalli’s Field, museum
Boymans van Beuningen in Rotterdam
Image source: Flickr