The Death of the Author

Death of the Author is not an attack on the idea of thematic analysis, stories containing messages, or trying to ignore the significant impact an authors ideas and beliefs have on text.

It's a condemnation of the Author as this deified figure that has the singular objectively correct voice on the art they've made. A plea for literary critique and analysis to go beyond simply disentangling what the Author meant, moving beyond the function of critic as translator and into something more nuanced and interpretive.

If nothing else it's an incredibly thought provoking essay as is undeniable by the fact “Death of the Author” is so ubiquitous in critical culture that it functions as a phrase in shorthand within critical culture. Even if you haven't read the essay everyone has at least a general grasp on its concept and an opinion on it's conclusions one way or the other.

As for how I think these ideas apply to the modern day, while I agree a tyrannical obsession on “explaining” text is incredibly limiting, to throw it out entirely is still needlessly limiting as an approach itself. There's a lot of truth in what he proposes on how no stories are truly original and there's inevitably a lot of meaning to be found that wasn't consciously intended, but that doesn't mean we should not play the striving game of trying to uncover what the author might have been saying too. That's honestly an integral part of what makes post-processing analysis fun even if it might be over-emphasized or made part of a false hierarchy where it sits at the top by some.

So while this discussion has expanded far beyond what any person living in the 1960s could have possibly been expected to foresee, it has to be given credit for igniting one of the most relevant and evolving perspectives on literary theory to this day.