A Comparative Study on Author’s Unreliability

林映凡

【Abstract】Literature appreciation usually follows a “writer-text-reader” process. The author is an inseparable part in literary discussion. Most literary schools have debate on the authors status， which is mainly sorted into two kinds： reliable author or unreliable author. This paper makes a comparative study on the authors status， which is mainly from the perspectives of New Criticism and Deconstruction. Both of them go for unreliability of the author. They share similarities but also bear differences.

【Key words】Author； New Criticism； Intentional Fallacy； Deconstruction； Différance； The Death of the Author； What is an Author

As one of the key elements in literary work， the authors status is always the subject of literary critics. In traditional literary criticism， mainstreams like Structuralism or Logocentrism maintain that literary works should be author-centered. A text is no less than the authors ideas. For this reason， literary discussion is operated with materials like the authors life story， narration， political view. But after twentieth century， literary schools against Logocentrism arose.

The tendency of erasing the authors trace starts from New Criticism. It is a literary school developed in 1930s and 1940s. New Criticisms rejection of the author was developed gradually. I. A Richards wrote in Literary Theory that people should focus on readers reaction in perusal and reject the writers influence. Then Wimsatt and Beardsley published The Intentional Fallacy in 1946， which completely removed the authors influence in reading.

According to “Intentional fallacy”， the meaning of a literary work may not be consistent with the author's intention. Authors are unreliable beings and their explanation of the work may be completely different. The reason goes that a literary work “is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it ... The poem belongs to the public.”

“Intentional fallacy” disagreed with the author-biography approaches of the mainstream views for three points： 1） Not all materials about the authors intention can be found. 2） Even if materials that directly express authors intention are available， they can not be understood superficially. 3） Great works are beyond the authors control.

Another literary school to be discussed on the authors status is Deconstruction. It rejected all the fixed and the authorized， including author-centered conception. Three main ideas decentering the authors status are Derridas Différance， Barthes The Death of the Author， and Foucaults What is an Author.

“Différance” by Derrida means both “to defer” and “to differ”. “To defer” is the notion that words and signs can never fully express what they are expected to， and meaning is forever “deferred” or postponed “through an endless chain of signifiers”. “To differ” concerns the force that differentiates elements from one another. As a result， it generates binary oppositions and hierarchies that make meaning difficult to define. Derrida， by doing so， denies certainty of meaning and provides foundation for denying certainty of the authors intention.

Barthes inherits theories from Semiology and Phenomenology. He believes that human culture is a language. In this language， determinative element is the grammar that represents social traditions and rules. An author， or any individual， cannot change the grammar but rather， is governed by it. For this reason， determinative factor in literary work is not the writer， but the tradition or language.

Barthes shows his viewpoint in The Death of the Author against traditional literary criticism's practice of combining intentions and biographical context of the author in appreciating a literary work， and argues that there is no definite connection between a text and its author. Barthes himself stated that the difference between his theory and New Criticism comes in the practice of “disentangling.” The author is disentangled from the text in that he/she does not have authority over the writings that he/ she has made.

Foucaults lecture What is an Author is a respond to Barthes The Death of the Author. Foucaults author is nothing more than an absence. He maintains that literary work gets closer to history. It reflects the history of the time when it was written.

Although both New Criticism and Deconstruction go for the authors disappearance， there is fundamental difference. We can see in New Criticism an everlasting human spirit. They never gave up belief in positive influence of literary criticism on human existence. Richards has faith in the readers ability； “Intentional fallacy” insists on literatures affiliation to human. But in Deconstruction， human spirit loses its way. Deconstructionists concentrate on signs and symbols. They dismember society as text or language， and “there is nothing outside of the text”. Individuals mean nothing in society and history.

References：

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[2]Derrida，Jacques.Différance.Literary Theory：An Anthology.Blackwell Publishing.1968.

[3]Foucault，Michel.What is an Author.Lecture at the Collège de France.1969.

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