Whilst Foucault’s conclusions coincide with the statement that “It is language which speaks, not the author”, he does not go so far as to say that the author, because of this, does not exist.
He accepts that literature must have an author and creator, just as it must have a reader: “One cannot turn a name into a pure and simple reference. It has other than indicative functions…When one says, ‘Aristotle’, one employs a word that is the equivalent of one or a series of definite descriptions” .
He respects that, as he writes, the name Aristotle brings with it the association that Aristotle wrote The Analytics, though also makes it clear that a description, by its nature, does not bring forth meaning. To say, for example, that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, does not help us understand the meaning of the language of the text, The Great Gatsby.
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Michel Foucault and 'What is an Author?'
Whilst Foucault’s conclusions coincide with the statement that “It is language which speaks, not the author”, he does not go so far as to say that the author, because of this, does not exist.
He accepts that literature must have an author and creator, just as it must have a reader: “One cannot turn a name into a pure and simple reference. It has other than indicative functions…When one says, ‘Aristotle’, one employs a word that is the equivalent of one or a series of definite descriptions” .
He respects that, as he writes, the name Aristotle brings with it the association that Aristotle wrote The Analytics, though also makes it clear that a description, by its nature, does not bring forth meaning. To say, for example, that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, does not help us understand the meaning of the language of the text, The Great Gatsby.
He accepts that literature must have an author and creator, just as it must have a reader: “One cannot turn a name into a pure and simple reference. It has other than indicative functions…When one says, ‘Aristotle’, one employs a word that is the equivalent of one or a series of definite descriptions” .
He respects that, as he writes, the name Aristotle brings with it the association that Aristotle wrote The Analytics, though also makes it clear that a description, by its nature, does not bring forth meaning. To say, for example, that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, does not help us understand the meaning of the language of the text, The Great Gatsby.
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