INTRODUCTION TO

LITERARY STUDIES
SILVERO DALILA
The Death of the Author Analysis
In his essay entitled “The Death of the Author”, Barthes (1976) gave explicit idea of how to
assign a single meaning to a literary piece is to limit literature. Barthes describes that “when a
fact is narrated, there is no origin. The death of an author begins to make way for the writing to
come alive” (Barthes, 1976, pg. 142). That is, there is no fixed meaning to any literary piece for
it is the reader assignment to give meaning to the piece they have in their hands. The reader must
remove the Author and difference the text from him, realizing “the Author is not an Author-God
who gives a single ‘theological’ meaning to the text” (Barthes, 1976, pg. 146). Thus, Barthes,
focus was positioned in the reader rather than the author. Barthes also explained there was a
before and after the Author (Barthes, 1976, pg. 145) referring to a writing since once the author
stopped writing, the piece was no longer his. The writing becomes then, a servant of Language.
Barthes quotes Mallarme Stephane, a French poet, saying that it is language that speak, not the
Author (1976, pg. 143). In consolidation, Barthes does not refute the fact that the image of the
author remains relevant but he stands by the fact that it is the reader and Language that will
provide meaning to a piece and there is no such thing as fixed meaning or a single voice to tell
the story.
Foucalt gives answer to this essay by Barthes in his essay “What is an Author?” and he agrees on
the idea od the author’s death when he says the author becomes a victim of his own writing, a
work becoming the murderer of its author (Focault, 1969, pg. 301). Moreover, he adds on his
thesis exploring the idea of what an author is when he expands wondering what to consider the
works of an author. Is everything a person writes to be included in his bibliography? If not, why?
In fact, he introduces the idea by making us reflect on the works of Maquis de Sade, a French
writer, before becoming a recognized author (1969, pg. 302). Thus, we might understand that the
author’s figure is a construct subject to a socio-cultural period in time. A figure that along the
story of the World has lacked importance at times and at times has been of importance. Foucalt
provides the examples of the civilizations that considered some text truthful enough without
knowing the author and the Middle Ages’ civilizations whose texts were only considered reliable
if an author was indicated (1969, pg. 306).
Contrasting Barthes to Foucalt, the latter does provide some relevance to the figure of the author
when he writes “…an author’s name is not simply an element of speech […]. Its presence is
functional in that it serves as a means of classification. A name can group together a number of
texts and thus differentiate them from others.” (1969, pg. 304). In that way, we understand that
there is some relevance to the indication of authors as a way of classification and differentiation.
Another difference we can find between these two is that Barthes manifests that an author may
limit the meaning of his works. But, Foucalt explores on the idea of author-function (1969, pg.
307). The scholar expands on the idea saying it is not just limited to the ability of speaking but it
there is actual intellectual property, creativity and intentions behind the work of an author (1969,
pg. 307). Foucalt determines the author as a person who has a name and a person who has set an
intention into his writing but he is aware that it is the reader who may designate traits or aspects
to an author and that, he says, is “a projection of our way to handle texts” (1969, pg. 307).

Father and Son by McLaverty

Throughout this short story set in a context of a Civil War and gun-violence, we get to know a
father whose son has been suffering from drug addiction. The author gives us the hind of those
situations in the next sentences, “I do not sleep. My father does not sleep. The sound of
ambulances criss-crosses the dark. I sleep with daylight. It is safe.” (Lessing, 1982, page 166).
Those are the first line that make us understand it is not safe in the street. A father who mourns
for his son’s attention and love and who is also, at the same time, deeply concerned to lose
another loved one since he has become a widower. “My mother is dead but I have another one in
her place. He is and old woman” (McLaverty, 1982, page 167). His son, who feels overprotected
by his father and understands he cannot let go of his late wife, is involved with dangerous
people. Lots of these things, we get to know this since his father is always afraid to get a call
saying his son is dead and according to his son, he lives in fear.
Thus, the first-person voices help us understand their different perspectives on the dark situation
and energy there is between them and why there is a distance between them too. They also serve
us to comprehend their contexts and feelings towards each other. For instance, when the father
explains “For two years I never heard a scrape from you. I read of London in the papers.
Watched scenes from London on the news, looking over the reporter’s shoulder at people
walking in the street. I know you son, you are easily led” (Lessing, 1982, page 167). This is one
of the instances where we get to learn a trait from the other character from the point of view of
the other character. We also learn a bit more about the father when the son says “Your hand
shakes in the morning, Da, because you’re a coward. […] Won’t answer the door without
looking out the bedroom window first. He’s scared of his own shadow.” (Lessing, 1892, page
167).

Just Good Friends by Archer

The denouement of the story becomes plausible when we go back into the story and understand
the author has been giving us signs that he was not talking about a human being. In fact, in this
particular Twisting in the Tale story, the author used a specific semantic field for it to finally
make sense once we come to the end. The author was cautious from the very beginning when the
female narrating the story says she woke up feeling randy but there was nothing she could do
about it. Randy meaning sexually aroused, lustful and commonly used to express animal’s sexual
desires. Then, on in the story we come across the fact that she almost leapt from behind the bar
(Archer, pg. 1). Leaping is to jump a long distance which also gave us another hint and then, she
expanded on why she did that. She sat next to him once another woman, who she had said was
wearing an “imitation fur coat” (Archer, pg. 1), left. Once she was there, she said that he made
no attempt to offer her a drink. He would never do that as he what he had in front of him was not
a human being, it was a cat. Even though he never intended offer her a drink, after she fluttered
her eyes at him, he caressed her cheek in a gentle way… the way one would with a pet. A bit
further in the story, the author writes a nice pun or game of words with the idiom “to have a
night in the tiles” where she expresses that she would have been Derek’s, an old love interest of
hers, just for a night on tiles. Referring to have a great night on the roof just like a cat would do.
The author wrote a well-planned story so that once you come to learn who the main character is
(or isn’t), everything comes to make sense in your mind.

Flight by Doris Lessing

This short story written by Lessing portraits the sorrow an old man feels when his youngest
eighteen-year-old granddaughter finds her romantic match. The old man, whose name we don’t
come to acknowledge, is presented as a man who cannot let go of his granddaughters for, he
perceives his granddaughters’ growth as getting abandoned. Through the story we also come to
learn that his sadness is hidden behind resentment and coldness.
During the very first paragraphs, it is described that he intends to let go one of the pigeons he
takes care of but, as soon as the birds spread its wings, he caught it back (Lessing, 1957). This
scene is an illustrating a way of him making an effort to give freedom to his granddaughters but
never concreting it. After this symbolic moment, we appreciate how he starts stalking on his
young granddaughter and scolding her for waiting for her love interest called Steven at the gate.
Once the old man decides to leave her alone just to go and tell her mom that she is courting
somebody, we appreciate another symbolism. While he is walking towards the house, the old
man insists on glancing back at her trying to keep his sight on his granddaughter. On her regard,
she never glances back. Thus, the girl holds the attitude and idea that she is ready to start her
own way far from her mother’s house. When he stops and reflects on his insensitivity, he seems
to make an effort to let her know that he was wrong, that he had to let her live her own life. “He
stopped, 'But I never meant...' he muttered, waiting for her to turn and run to him. 'I didn't
mean...'” (Lessing, 1957, page 1). But just like he had previously done with the bird before, he
couldn’t get to elaborate on his empathic behaviour.
Further in the story, noticing his future relative’s anxiousness, Steven finds a present for the old
man – a bird. A bird that serves as his granddaughter. A present that is given to him as a way of
saying “Nothing has to change; I will always bring her back to you…”. The old man instantly
feels seen and grateful. The next lines following this nice gesture, show a change on the
character’s attitude.
“He held the new bird to his face, for the caress of its silken feathers.

Then he it in a box and took out his favourite. 'Now you can go, he said aloud. He held it poised, ready for
flight, while he looked down the garden towards the boy and the girl. Then, clenched in the pain of loss, he
lifted the bird on his wrist, and watched it soar. A whirr and a spatter of wings, and a cloud of birds rose into
the evening from the dovecote.” (Lessing, 1957)
These lines are picturing the last symbolism of the story and the start of a new era for both the
granddaughter and the old man. He finally decides to let her spread her wings and fly into life, a
life that she was choosing to build next to a man of her choice as well. However, there is one
more surprise this story holds. “The old man turned, slowly, taking his time; he lifted his eyes to
smile proudly down the garden at his granddaughter. She was staring at him. She did not smile.
She was wide-eyed, and pale in the cold shadow, and he saw the tears run shivering off her face”
(Lessing, 1957, page 4). Apparently, the old man was right. The girl was still a girl. And, even
though he had finally decided to unwrap his arms off of her, she was not ready yet to do so.
REFERENCES

- Archer, J. 1988. “Just Good Friends”. Simon and Schuster, NY.

- Barthes, R. 1977. “Image, Music, Text”. Fontana Press, London.
- Foucault, M. 1969. “What is an Author?”.
- Lessing, D. 1957. “The Habit of Loving: Flight”. Thomas Y. Crowell Company
- McLaverty, B. 1982. “A Time to Dance and other Stories: Father and Son”. George
Brazilier, NY