‘Death of the Author’
Barthes, (1977), R “Death of the Author” in Barthes R. Image, Music and Text, New York Hill & Wang
Barthes (1977) ‘Death of the Author’ highlights how as readers we often attempt to associate meaning within a text to the authors personal ideals, values, context and experiences. Essentially Barthes (1977) illustrates that writing is not a reflection of the authors identity and should be instead open to the interpretation of the reader. The author is no longer relevant in todays society. Often literature, photographs, paintings etc. are created from a variety of sources. This entails that regardless of the author there is no origin to the piece and while the pubic analyses the work as a product of our society, we cannot find explanation within the author. Barthes (1977) also discusses how Surrealism desacralised the image of the author. In turn this describes how the movement removed the author from the product due to its illogical reason to norms and conventions. As such products are the creation of a blend of unoriginal forms as promulgated in the quote “life never does more than imitate the book, and the book itself is only a tissue of signs, an imitation that is lost, infinitely deferred” (Bathes, 1977, p.g 2).
‘Cultural Interfaces’
Manovich L; (2001) “Cultural Interfaces” in Manovich L. The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press, pp 69 – 88
Within this reading Manovich (2001) analyses how cinema has changed society. It was a new artistic language and particularly in todays society it is apart of our daily lives. The original purpose of the computer was to replace objects and systems such as typewriters and the paintbrush. However nowadays it has become a universal media machine replacing speech, memory and a range of other natural human functions with the creation of the mobile phone. Additionally the mobile phone is the biggest cultural interface thus far. Manovich (2001) discusses how it is interesting that the more young computer and mobile users and designers that grow up in todays culture, the more we accept the features of cinema. This is truly a cultural influence that is constantly developing to suit the needs of today. According to Manovich (2001) there are three important cultural forms including print, cinema and graphical user interface (GUI). Furthermore these provide the foundations of new media and cultural conventions.
By Chelsea Buswell.
References:
Literary Theory: ‘Death of the Author’ by Roland Barthes (2014) The Narratologist. Available at: http://www.thenarratologist.com/literary-theory/literary-theory-death-of-the-author/ (Accessed: 11 October 2018).
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