Michel Foucault: What is an Author?

The article "What is an Author" by Michel Foucault, is a very enlightening piece of literature that essentially examines the preposed question: what is an author? In my reading of this article I found that Foucault did an outstanding job of answering his own questions and did so by connecting and showing the relationship between the author and the text. Through purpose, credibility, functionality, location, and proportionality of the composition being investigated, Foucault is able to accurately analyze the work of the person who wrote the text. When reading this article the key analytical question that I formulated while enjoying this fine piece of literature was; At which point does an author begin to function as an author? Foucault answered this question by describing the four basic functions, which are: The "author function" is connected to the legal system, the "author function" caries according to field and discipline, the "author function" is carried out through complex operations and is not defined by the spontaneous attribution of a discourse to its producer, and an "author" doesn't necessarily connote a specific individual. Foucault is also able to incorporate many useful techniques into his work by offering his readers new perspectives in his composition. The useful technique that proved to be the most useful was being able to give his readers a timeline of how authors have evolved throughout time. This allows his readers to better understand what it means to be an author and how to become a better author. Foucault also arranged his work in topical patterns which allow his reader to more easily comprehend what his intentions were within his writing. Overall Foucault does an excellent job answering the question, "what is an author", by analyzing the relationship between author and text.