Mission Statement

As Clemson composition students, we strive to uphold the values of Clemson University, maintain a high quality standard of writing, and successfully implement rhetorical strategies in our work.

Monday, January 20, 2014

What Is an Author?

Michel Foucault's essay entitled "What Is an Author?" made me look deeper into what being an author really means.  Before, I have never thought about it.  I have always just read a piece of work and known who it was written by, but never really giving any thought as to who is "behind" the name of the author and why they wrote it.  Like Foucault says: "...the notion of writing seems to transpose the empirical characteristics of an author into a transcendental anonymity."  He gives an example that if someone discovered that Shakespeare was not born in the house that everyone goes to look at, it will not alter the author's name and we will still view him the same.  However, if it was discovered that Shakespeare did not actually write one of his many famous plays or sonnets, then it would alter the way people view him and it would make them want to question him.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2014 at 8:04 PM

    I really like the example that you used! It really helped me to understand the meaning behind what Foucault was trying to explain when referencing the "name of authors."

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJanuary 20, 2014 at 8:26 PM

    Quoting text directly from the passage adds strength and credibility your point, I used this technique in my evaluation as well!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)