Week 11: Barthes

Roland Barthes has a distinct writing style; long sentences with lots of breaks in them and complicated vocabulary. I enjoy reading his writings because of this, but it seems to go against this particular text, in that it doesn't exemplify the death of the Author. I can recognize his voice, and as a result of this, I must think about the text in relation to my perception of Barthes the Author.
But throughout much of the reading, I kept wondering, "What is so bad about the Author?" I read a book last summer that was heavily political, and the author naturally had a strong opinion on the subject. This definitely influenced the opinion of the reader, and their interpretation of the facts presented. I agree that this type of text (political, news, scientific or anything involving objective facts) should not have an Author. Textbooks have no need for an Author, and also would benefit without one. Fiction, I believe, could go either way. But it seems to me that Barthes is advocating for the Author, their voice, their influence, and their background to be no longer existent. Forever.

Language can be messy, with one person trying to communicate their ideas to another (or even more complicated, to a group of people) given the author's background, prior knowledge/experience, and their understandings of semantics. Every person has a different combination of these, and other, circumstances, which can make for misunderstandings. But this is one of the natural challenges of communication. We cannot simply upload a thought directly into another's brain, and we never will be able to. And this is okay. Everything in the world has imperfection, but this issue can easily be solved if the author knows who their audience is, how to most effectively communicate to them, and is sure to be explicit enough in their writing so as to not leave room for reader error...if this is what they want to achieve. Not all writings need to be without a voice, without an Author, and I am somewhat confused as to why Barthes finds it so important to do away with the Author altogether.

Art can be the same way. I was required to take a course titled Visual Language in my freshman year of college, and the content is just as it sounds: how to use completely abstract forms in artwork in order to communicate an idea, theme, or mood. There was often miscommunication within the class as to what one student's piece was "saying" using this universal visual language, just as there is miscommunication between an artist and his/her viewer in professional art galleries. It comes with being human, and it is something to be embraced (though maybe not all the time, depending on the effect the maker wants to have on the audience) both in writing and in art.