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"I had allowed their names to function ambiguously" Implies that the ‘authors' name serves a specific purpose.
"I wanted to determine…the functional conditions of specific discursive practice." the purpose of The Order of Things. A primary concern of Foucault's is to examine the context of a discursive event/practice to see what gave rise to it, how it operates, etc…
In doing so, for this piece, he asks many questions (16) but mainly concerns himself with the relationship between the author and the text.
This moves him to two thematic issues concerning Becket's line "what matter who's speaking, someone said, what matter who's speaking". Here the text is privileged over the author. What is important is what is said not who it was said by, leading into two themes.
"writing…has freed itself from the necessity of ‘expression" (16) This posits a change from content confines to "nature of signifier". So what does all of this mean? Foucault goes on to show how this enables writing to break its own boundaries allowing the ‘author' to disappear "…it is primarily concerned with creating an opening where the writing subject endlessly disappears.
The second theme concerns writing and death. Our culture transforms this from writing as protection against death (Arabian Nights lasting all night long forestalling death) to a text killing it author (Barthes). Here he introduces "The Death of the Author" and uses it as a jumping off point to question what the actual death of the author implies How do we analyze, "what do we make", of the things an individual has written - do we include simple laundry lists, an address, shortly, all things an individual has written. Basically this asks what does criticism do without an author? This leads to another question of what is a ‘work' and ‘author's work", and what do we include in it? (164)
Ecriture a remarkably profound attempt to elaborate the conditions of any text, both temporal/spatial contexts. Archaeological makeup is not concerned with authorial intent, argues that this provides the author with certain privileges, which, in turn, leads him to question the gaps left by the author's disappearance.
He begins this exploration with a description of proper names ‘equivalent of a description' or ‘designation'
Description meaningful set of words that refers to a particular object
Designation "Charles Dickens" is a designation of the person who bears that name.
An authors name in particular presents complex problems. For example, changing place of residence, eye color, etc does not change the person the name refers to. However, to change the name of the author of a corpus of works, to say Shakespeare did not write certain sonnets changes the function of his name. In other words, "the author's name is not simply an element of speech" (167)
Function of an author's name group together texts for differentiation, establishes different forms of relationships, characterizes particular manner of discourse (provides status to a specific ‘cultural' discourse"
Our cultural perception uses the ‘author' to elevate specific texts over others (168). A letter has no author. A contract has no author. This shows that an author characterizes specific discourses in a society and moves to an analysis of discourse by keeping just to books/texts with authors. This yields four different features.
1. ‘objects of appropriation' author's name assigned to speeches and books at same time only when the author became punishable; they become a specific form of property. This property is already controlled by a penal code. Turns writing into a weapon.
. ‘author function not universal or constant' some texts require authors which others do not, texts at some points remained anonymous because the ‘real or supposed age' provided authenticity (think aura). 18th century hits and organizes texts based upon ‘established truths and methods of verification' (role of author disappears.
. "author-function" not formed spontaneously we cannot simply attach a discourse to an individual, we must construct the ‘entity' of an author, not all authors are constructed the same, but we employ similar methods now as those in the past. Now, the author is used to explain events; outside influences on the person explain for textual inconsistencies (I.S.A.'s?)
4. "does not refer, purely and simply, to an actual individual" it gives rise to ‘subjective positions' for any to occupy. For a summary of these four features ( a nice list perhaps) see the last full paragraph on page 161.
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