“The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes: A Critique

Introduction: “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

“The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes, first published in 1967 in the collection “Image Music Text,” translated by Stephen Heath in 1977, is a seminal essay in literary theory. Barthes challenges the traditional notion of the author as the sole source of meaning in a text, arguing that the reader plays an equally important role in interpreting and creating meaning. He asserts that the author’s intentions and biographical context are irrelevant to understanding a work, and instead emphasizes the plurality of interpretations that a text can generate. This essay has had a profound impact on literary studies, shifting the focus from authorial intention to reader response and paving the way for post-structuralist and deconstructionist approaches to literature.

Summary of “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

• Destruction of Authorial Voice: Barthes illustrates through Balzac’s Sarrasine that the origin of narrative voice is indeterminable—whether it’s the character, the author, or a broader philosophical voice. This exemplifies his thesis that writing neutralizes the voice and its origin, emphasizing the impersonality and composite nature of the text.
• Historical Shift in Authorship Concept: The author as a central figure in narrative and interpretation is a modern construct influenced by English empiricism, French rationalism, and the Reformation. The prestige of the individual or “human person” grew during these periods, reinforcing the author’s prominence in literature and criticism.
• Criticisms of Traditional Author-Centric Criticism: Barthes critiques the conventional literary criticism that ties a work’s meaning too closely to the author’s personal life and intentions. He argues that such approaches limit the interpretation of texts by imposing a singular, definitive meaning.
• Shift from Author to Language: Influential writers like Mallarmé and Valéry have shifted focus from the author to the language itself. Mallarmé posited that it is language that speaks, not the author, promoting a view where writing supersedes authorial intention.
• Modern Scriptors versus Traditional Authors: Barthes contrasts the “modern scriptor” who is born simultaneously with the text and whose identity is intrinsically linked to the act of writing, against the traditional notion of an author who precedes and informs the text.
• Text as a Multi-dimensional Space: The text is seen as a multi-dimensional space where various writings blend and clash without any originality. It is a fabric of quotations, making the text a product of cultural intertextuality rather than a creation of a single author.
• Role of the Reader: In the absence of the author, the focus shifts to the reader, who becomes the central figure in interpreting texts. The reader creates the unity of the text by synthesizing its multiple writings, making interpretation a personal and subjective act.
• Critique of Author-Centric Humanism: Barthes argues that traditional humanism, which emphasizes the author, paradoxically neglects the rights and the role of the reader in interpreting texts. The “death of the author” is necessary to liberate the reader and enable a fuller experience of the text, fostering a revolutionary activity that challenges traditional interpretations and meanings.

Literary Terms in “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

Theoretical Concept/Literary Device	Definition/Explanation	Example from the Essay
Death of the Author	The rejection of the traditional notion that the author’s intentions and biographical context are the ultimate source of meaning in a text. It emphasizes the reader’s role in interpreting and creating meaning.	Balzac’s sentence about a woman: “This was woman herself, with her sudden fears, her irrational whims…” Barthes argues that we can never truly know who is speaking – the character, Balzac as an individual, Balzac as an author, or some universal wisdom. The meaning is created in the interaction between the text and the reader.
Birth of the Reader	The reader is not a passive consumer of the text but an active participant who brings their own experiences and interpretations to the work, thus creating meaning.	The analysis of Greek tragedy, where the reader (or listener) is the only one who understands the full ambiguity of the words and the misunderstandings between characters.
Text as a Multi-Dimensional Space	A text is not a linear expression of a single meaning but a complex web of different writings, cultural references, and interpretations.	Barthes likens the writer to Bouvard and Pecuchet, eternal copyists who only imitate previous gestures. The text is a tissue of quotations, and its meaning emerges from the interplay of these different elements.
The Scriptor	A term used to replace “author,” emphasizing that the writer is not the originator of the text but merely a participant in the act of writing.	Barthes contrasts the modern scriptor with the traditional Author. The scriptor is born simultaneously with the text and does not exist before it, while the Author is seen as the past of the book.
Performative Writing	Writing is not just a representation of reality but an act that creates meaning through the very act of writing itself.	The example of the “I declare” of kings or the “I sing” of ancient poets. These statements do not describe an action but perform it through the act of utterance.

Contribution of “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes To Literary Theory

Examples of Critiques: “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

Literary Work	Critique through “Death of the Author”
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (2022) by Gabrielle Zevin	Rather than focusing on Zevin’s personal experiences or intentions, the novel can be analyzed as a multi-dimensional space where themes of friendship, ambition, creativity, and identity intersect. The meaning is not predetermined but emerges through the reader’s active engagement with the text.
Detransition, Baby (2021) by Torrey Peters	Instead of seeking authorial intent in Peters’ personal life, the novel can be read as a performative act of writing that challenges traditional notions of gender and family. The reader becomes the space where these challenges are confronted and new understandings are formed.
The Employees (2020) by Olga Ravn	Instead of attributing the novella’s commentary on labor and existentialism solely to Ravn’s views, it can be seen as a text woven with multiple writings – corporate culture, artificial intelligence, human emotions. The reader is the one who navigates this complex landscape and creates meaning from these diverse elements.
If I Survive You (2022) by Jonathan Escoffery	Rather than solely focusing on Escoffery’s Jamaican-American background, the collection of interconnected stories can be interpreted as a tissue of quotations from various sources – family history, cultural identity, the immigrant experience. The reader becomes the destination where these narratives converge, creating a nuanced understanding of the characters’ lives and struggles.

Criticism Against “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

• Neglecting Authorial Intent: Critics argue that Barthes’ claim that “writing is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin” excessively diminishes the role of the author’s intentional influence on a text, potentially ignoring how personal context and authorial purpose shape literary works.
• Oversimplification of Textual Analysis: By asserting that “a text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture,” Barthes may oversimplify the complexity of textual creation and interpretation, reducing all texts to mere assemblies of pre-existing discourses without originality.
• Undermining the Historical and Cultural Context: The removal of the author might lead to the neglect of the historical and cultural contexts in which a text was produced. This view is encapsulated in Barthes’ statement that “the author is never more than the instance writing,” which critics argue could detach the text from its deeper social, historical, and political meanings.
• Practical Limitations in Literary Studies: Barthes’ idea that “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author” challenges the practical application of author-centered research, which is vital in understanding genre developments, historical influences, and biographical interpretations in literary studies.
• Ambiguity in Reader-Centric Approach: While emphasizing the reader’s role in interpretation, Barthes arguably underestimates the need for a structured approach to reading. His focus on the reader as the central figure might lead to excessively subjective interpretations, where “the space of writing is to be ranged over, not pierced,” potentially causing a lack of clarity and consensus in literary analysis.
• Potential for Relativism: The statement that “the reader is without history, biography, psychology” could promote a form of interpretive relativism where texts may be understood in infinitely varied ways, challenging the establishment of any coherent or shared meanings.
• Impact on Literary Standards: Barthes’ ideas might challenge traditional standards of literary value and criticism, as removing the author could also diminish the criteria for evaluating the literary quality and impact of texts, given that “writing can no longer designate an operation of recording, notation, representation, ‘depiction’.”

Suggested Readings: “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

1. Allen, Graham. Roland Barthes. Routledge, 2003.
2. Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” Image Music Text, translated by Stephen Heath, Hill and Wang, 1977, pp. 142-148.
3. Culler, Jonathan. Barthes: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2002.
4. Knight, Diana. Critical Essays on Roland Barthes. G.K. Hall, 1994.
5. Moriarty, Michael. Roland Barthes. Stanford University Press, 1991.
6. Thody, Philip. Roland Barthes: A Conservative Estimate. Humanities Press, 1978.

Extracts with Explanation from “The Death of the Author” by Roland Barthes

Extract	Explanation
“Writing is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin.”	This statement highlights Barthes’ central thesis that writing eliminates the traditional role of the author as the singular voice behind a text. It emphasizes the view that a text emerges from a multitude of cultural and linguistic influences, rather than from a single, identifiable source.
“It is language which speaks, not the author; to write is, through a prerequisite impersonality… to reach that point where only language acts, ‘performs’, and not ‘me’.”	Barthes argues that the act of writing prioritizes language itself over the personal expression of the author. This extract supports the idea that language operates independently of the author’s intentions, suggesting that the meaning of a text is derived from language as a system rather than from the author’s subjective input.
“The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.”	This extract underscores the concept of intertextuality, which posits that all texts are essentially compilations of other texts, without any original content. According to Barthes, a writer does not create unique content but rather reassembles existing cultural and literary materials.
“The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.”	Barthes posits that for the reader to have freedom in interpretation, the authority of the author must be diminished. This radical shift repositions the reader as the central figure in the creation of textual meaning, advocating for a more democratized approach to reading and interpretation.
“A text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialogue, parody, contestation.”	This highlights the multi-dimensional nature of texts, which Barthes believes are composed of various writings that interact within a text. This view challenges the notion of a single, unified meaning and instead suggests that texts are open to a range of interpretations influenced by diverse cultural dialogues.