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does the author really have an imapact in how the readers interpret his work? can we really be critical of one's work without personally involving the author? does the author really have no control over the minds of his readers? https://twitter.com/yumburgel/status/1320630883506814976
Roland Barthes said in his essay "the birth of a reader must be at the cost of the death of the author" this means that the identity of the author should not be a factor of his writing.
this also means that a reader can be as creative as they can with how they interpret one's work even though it was not the intention of the author.
Barthes emphasized that it is the writings that makes the author not the other way around thus he cannot claim authority to it because the author is merely another tool to tell the story.
the author is merely retelling this story that has already been told many times.
to put into context, most of the fiction stories have one definite structureb beginning with a problem, downfall of hero, overcoming obstables, conflic, resolution.
it was the same thing over and over. sometimes just written in varying pattern. no original thoughts just rearrangement.
here Barthes said the author did not really write the book he just put together words or ideas to construct the writing.
another point Barthes raised is that the reader cannot gain anything if they are going to look at it with the author's eyes. this is because the reader's interpretation of the work will be limited.
the reader will instead focus on analyzing the author's opinion of the topic instead of formulating thier own opinions and thoughts from the writing.
Barthes claims that status of the reader should be elevated not the author. if a reader have formulated conclusion and insights from the writing it should not be credited as the author's genius idea
but should be credited from the readers deep evaluation based from their personal experiences that have shaped them to view the writing that way.
if we really want to have a growth on our skills for critical thinking or interpretation of text, the death of the author is important, according to Barthes.
on the other hand if the reader is reading a topic that they do not have experience to, then the author's interpretation is important. this is why i believe the author should have a firm stand, knowledge about certain topics they have raised that are not common to the readers.
this is not to shape the readers interpretation but to help them grasp the the topic raised/the tackled. here the job of the author is to teach the topic only to be understood by the reader not to teach them how to interpret it.
but, can we really read something that was written by someone we do not have idea who? can we really be able to interpret his writing without being able to know his intentions about the topic? is the author really dead?
i believe that the author as well as what his interest are in writing the text have presence in it. however this should not be a basis for us to view
or be critical of his works. what are written in the text should be more meaningful than who wrote the text. it is still important for readers to be able to have their own interpretation from it.
this is where the author comes alive. the way the author wrote the text gives the impression to the readers as to what thier opinions are going to be. thus the author have the responsibility to be as objective as he can to tackle a topic not just merely opening it.
to let readers have their own interpretation. the way the author wrote the topic will be the foundation of the reader's conclusion from the text.
it seems that when Barthes said that "the birth of a reader must be at the cost of the death of the author" he meant it idealistically not realistically. which it is optimal that a reader will form his own interpretation one's work dissociating with who made it,
i believe that the way the author wrote the text is partially responsible how the interpretation was made. is the author really dead? no, but he really is not alive either. the author is stuck in the grey area of it.
in conclusion, while yes, the author cannot control the minds of his readers, the way he wrote the topic raised give the foundation of how the readers will interpret his work.
he cannot just write whatever he wants to because it might have a different impression to his readers.
