Journal 3: Death of the Author
In this chapter, Barthes contests the prevalent idea of the author-god that continues to pervade much of western society. The idea that writing-- or other arts for that matter-- serves solely as a vessel for the author’s intentions is, according to Barthes, deeply flawed. True ‘originality’ always eludes the writer, Barthes holds, as all they can hope to create is a patchwork collage of those that came before them. “We know now that a text is not a line of words releasing a single ‘theological’ meaning… but a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them original, blend and clash.” (Barthes, 146). I’ve done a lot of thinking recently on ideas such as these, as I often utilize elements of randomness and chance in the art I create. Additionally, I’ve always struggled when trying to come up with any kind of concrete and definite ‘meaning’ behind the work I create, so interpretations such as these, where less value is placed on the intentions of the writer/artist as