Study Task 1 - Summary

Roland Barthes' critical essay 'The Death of the Author' (1967) examines the relationship between the author, the reader and the interpretation of a text, but what does this mean in the context of a modernised society? 

Barthes argues that when the author’s identity in regards to their body of writing is lost, this is when the content can thrive in the hands of the reader. 'Language knows a 'subject', not a 'person'' (pg.145), and the removal of the 'person' can change the meaning of a text instantly. However, in some cases the context of the author is important to understanding the context of the work. Andy Warhol’s Pop Art, for instance, was predominantly created using images that already existed. His repetitive prints were based on popular culture, events of the time and his own personal interests. For example, Warhol's famous ‘Campbell's Soup Cans’ (1962) were a reflection of his own routine and everyday life. To differentiate the author and work as two separate entities in this case would take away any possibility of understanding the original intended meaning behind it, ‘the temporality is different’ (pg.145), leaving it open for interpretation by the reader.

Arguably, originality doesn't exist in regards to the identity of the author. In ‘Consumerism is a way of life’, Steven Miles describes the modern society as being ‘constituted in an artificial environment surrounded by artificial objects and artificial ‘nature’’. With this artificiality comes technology and social media. The use of this, duplication of imagery and sharing features in particular can completely eradicate the identity of an author, often the image/text speaks for itself in this case. Similarly, Barthes describes the author as 'a modern figure, a product of our society' (pg.142), which suggests that in order for the piece of work to become timeless the background of its origin must be lost. This loss of background creates a freedom for the writing itself, the reader now has ownership over it and can interpret it as he/she wills. In contrast to this, although Warhol’s ‘Marilyn Diptych’ (1962) can be seen as an iconic piece of work it was still very much appropriated to the time of which it was produced, just four months after Monroe’s suicide. If the same work had been produced today it would not have had the same poignancy.

Ultimately, Barthes expresses the point that in order for the reader to gain everything that he/she possibly can from a text, the author and context must be forgotten. In other words 'the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author' (pg.148).