Critique of "Death of the Author"
The title to the story "The Death of an Author," by Roland Barthes, suggests this story may be a fictional novel about the story of an author's death. Perhaps one might pick it up, and skim the foreword in hopes that beneath the cover of this book there would be a mystery, a story of detectives, eye- witnesses, clues, and a puzzle for the reader to solve. Before I read this story, the title "The Death of an Author" brought to my imagination the biography of a writer slowly drinking himself to death trying to finish the story of his life, but the author would be stuck and depressed because his life is not a story as it is boring and repetitive. I have read such short stories with similar titles by authors like Raymond Carver and others. I was surprised when I began to read "The Death of an Author" that a story with such a powerful title would be a wordy, whimper of a passage.
The author Roland Barthes is a brilliant writer, he is able to weave phrases and create new uses for verbs, nouns and adjectives. Though he is a brilliant writer I have to assume that he was not a very bright man or that he at least has very little common sense outside of the literary world. If he wrote in a more simple, to the point modern style I would have read the story, absorbed its content, and would not have given it a second look. The story could be summarized in...
create a novel out of an actual event. He had thousands of notes on the subject,
“As I Lay Dying, read as the dramatic confrontation of words and actions, presents Faulkner’s allegory of the limits of talent” (Jacobi). William Faulkner uses many different themes that make this novel a great book. Faulkner shows his talent by uses different scenarios, which makes the book not only comedic but informational on the human mind. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great book that illustrates great themes and examples. Faulkner illustrates different character and theme dynamics throughout the entire novel, which makes the book a humorous yet emotional roller coaster. Faulkner illustrates the sense of identity, alienation, and the results of physical and mental death to show what he thinks of the human mind.
as a writer has been to make the public aware of his opinions through his very popular and
Wright, Richard. "The Man Who Was Almost a Man." Literature and the Writing Process. Ed.
He also has a continuing theme of his work being premature. This theme comes from his strong ego believing that the reason that he is not widely read is because his ideas are too revolutionary to be understood. "But it would contradict my character entirely if I expected ears and hands for my truths today: that today one doesn't hear me and doesn't accept my ideas is not only understandable, it seems right to me" (715). His continual focus on the stupidity of Germans becomes irritating after a while. "To think German, to feel German-I can do anything, but not that" (719).
enough works to publish a book but John would not allow it. Poe was also very
He is truly a great writer, and Of Mice and Men is no exception, but while reading this
...efore people became impressed with his writing. Only when the man himself was forgotten did the people begin to appreciate his musings.
...iter in the sense that he knew how to make the readers think the same way he does, through the characters they were following.
Allen, Woody. Death Knocks. 1968. Approaching Literature: Reading + Thinking + Writing. 3rd ed. Ed. Peter Shakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1066-1072. Print.
...ent and wit without losing his audience. He therefore combined the two to create elitist poems with some touches of the popular.
in Dublin still want to forget the problem and enjoy at least on New Years
author is to provide the semblance of originality and meaning in The Death of the
In terms of quality of writing itself, Johnson’s Intellectuals makes for entertaining historical dream. The British author’s intent is to put to test several of the ‘intellectuals’ who exerted cultural and social influence during the Enlightenment period forward to our own time. Johnson writes,
The story starts in medias res, we just jump straight into the thick of things without much information and, furthermore, it is written in the past tense utilizing a third person narrator that follows the thoughts and feelings of William, who is the main character, closely. Overall the story has a chronological structure, however there is one flashback. The narrator often directly describes actions, such as “William wrote biographies of pop singers” (page 2, line 19). By way of this sentence, the reader is informed of the main character’s profession, and later finds out that William would have rather preferred to write about male film stars from the golden age instead. The narrator also tells the story in such a way that invokes feelings of empathy towards William due to his many problems.