Death of the Author
Additional Discussion of Roland Barthes’
“The Death of the Author” (1967)
A Controversial Notion:
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“. . . A text is made of multiple
writings, drawn from many cultures
and entering into mutual relations of
dialogue, parody, contestation, but
there is one place where this
multiplicity is focused and that place
is the reader, not . . . the author. . . .
[T]o give writing its future . . . the
birth of the reader must be at
the cost of the death of the
author (148).”
Ideas to Consider:
• Is “authorship” an obsolete idea?
• How important is the meaning the author intends vs. the
importance of the meaning the reader constructs?
• Barthes is critiquing a tendency to privilege the author
as the person who creates all meaning. Do you think
that privilege is warranted?
• Barthes suggests that this privilege is tied to capitalist
culture (vs. storyteller as medium). How does citizen
journalism change this dynamic? For better or for
worse?
• Barthes believes all stories are of culture and not of
merely of individuals. What do you think this means?
• Barthes points out that there is often ambiguity about
whose “voice” we are hearing and even ambiguity about
point of view. Can you give examples of this?
Review
• What is an “expressive” narrative structure?
• What is the main problem associated with
expressive narrative structure in interactive
fiction and poetry (according to Keith
Johnstone)?
• What is an “impositional” narrative structure?
Can you give examples of this kind of
structure?
• What is the main problem associated with
impositional structures?
• How to strike a balance?
• Suggestion for a collaboration process
Needs to Consider
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What are the two defining characteristics of
interactive media?
According to Yellowlees Douglas, how does a
“point of closure” become defined in interactive
media?
“places where the projected goals of the
protagonist involved in a particular narrative
strand are satisfied, or where the tensions or
conflicts which have given rise to the narrative
strand are resolved”
Can you give an example? How might this apply
to “The Psychiatric Hospital for Abused Cuddly
Toys,” for instance?
Questions to Consider as you blog
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What is the role of “author” in interactive
fiction and poetry?
To what extent can participants be authors?
What is a “narrative”? How can we distinguish
narrative from nonnarrative?
Are there alternatives to Douglas’ “points of
closure” that you can think of?
Are there points of closure in poetry
(traditional and interactive media)? If so, how
do they happen?
Questions?
Assignment: View The Dumpster at the Whitney Museum
Artport and blog your opinion about whether this is a
“narrative” or nonnarrative. Explain your views. Does it have
“points of closure?” What is the role of the author who
programmed it? What roles do participants take? Explain.