Reader Response Theory- Barthes "Death of the Author"

Originally, I had been a huge believer in the influence of an author on a text, but after reading Barthes’s “Death of the Author,” I admittedly began to question some of my previous conceptions. I still believe in some cases, the Author exists more strongly in the text than in other pieces (one example being Tennessee William, who reflects much of his personal life and experience in his work) however, it can limit depth of a work to only analyze the author of the text. It prevents readers from considering other alternatives and interpretations. Instead, combining reader response in conjunction with technical elements employed by the author may allow for a deeper and more meaningful or applicable analysis. This doesn’t mean the author needs to be completely dead to the work, but they become more of an echo than anything.

Something that assisted in digesting this work was looking at literary criticism in a way similar the way in which movies are often viewed by audiences. No one considers the value of the work based on the life experience of the author unless it is extremely relevant to the work. Movies based on true stories retain a far louder echo of the author, but as most movies aren’t based on real situations, we must find other ways to critique the material. We instead begin to look at the visual effects, camera angles, believability of the characters, and how we personally respond to the work because of our understanding of reality. This allows for a greater conversation and more varied interpretations of a work, giving it added depth and appeal to different backgrounds. I believe this was what Barthes believes should be the case for literature as well.

Psychoanalysis: Lacan's Mirror Stage

One thing that I felt wasn't covered sufficiently by Lacan was the formation of the ego in situations lacking a mirror. Of course, one who hasn't seen their reflection would eventually develop a sense of self due to "social determination," but would they be lacking some sort of essential formative step in the development of self-awareness? Or would their sense of self awareness be more accurate due a lack of the "statue in which man projects himself" or the "phantoms that dominate him." This is to say, what exactly would the effects be if a man were to never see a reflection of his own image? It would be extremely interesting to compare the resulting egos of people exposed and unexposed to images of themselves.

Lacan's theory manages to explain one potential aspect of the development of ego, but also explains a common human obsession, which is that of the "double." Our society has a slight fascination with twins and the concept of a "doppelganger." Dostoyevsky was particularly attracted to the concept of the doppelganger, writing a book called "The Double" in which a man is forced to face his evil counterpart. Even Madonna has featured the concept of an evil twin in her "Die Another Day" music video. These doppelgangers may represent evil due to the sense of competition and fragmentation Lacan claims we feel at the first exposure to a mirror. Twins most likely baffle people due to their similarity and must be interesting to study, as they are able to see a three dimensional image of their own likeness.

Structuralism and Semiotics: Frye "The Archetypes in Literature"

Frye seems particularly interested in what causes particular genres and archetypes to form.  In order to find cause of this formation, he looks for various patterns in imagery throughout time.  He traces back archetypes to ancient rituals and traditions, which I found to be interesting as a lot of it applied to several religious studies classes I have taken. People associated the seasons and certain symbols with other symbols such as life or death. Frye breaks it down essentially like this:

Spring→birth, revival→romance

Summer→success, marriage→comedy, pastoral

Autumn→death→tragedy

Winter→defeat→satire

These traditions and types often have different variations, but the imagery within each general is somewhat similar.  These patterns and associations are seen throughout literature and oral tradition in a great many cultures and communities, explaining their prevalence in literary works.

Another section I found to be interesting was the following quote: “The importance of the god or hero in the myth lies in the fact that such characters, who are conceived in human likeness and yet have more power over nature, gradually build up the vision of an omnipotent personal community beyond an indifferent nature.”  Like our need for rituals to try to influence the earth, we as humans like to try to explain things and try to overcome the indifference and pure randomness of nature.  This leads to our need for figures that are able to exert themselves against nature and prevail.  I found this to be an extremely insightful explanation as to the origin and need for hero figures in literature.

Picture post: Formalism, Analysis #2

Paintings such as this are part of why I can’t complete accept the scientific distancing that is a common attribute of Formalism.  The Formalist approach would to be analyze the form and content, but not to take into account the life of the artist.  Through the eyes a Formalist, this piece is valid because it uses different tones of white, cream, and grey.  It also experiments with a variety of texture, using both lumpy nodules and defined edges to provide contrast and bring attention directly to the center of the canvas.  These edges create interesting tilted angles within the piece and the bottom half has lines that radiate farther away from the center, which gives the appearance of a more heavily weighted bottom half that is additionally accentuated by spots of grey coloration. The top is also darker colored and set farther back, which highlights the depth of field and makes the farthest and lightest parts of the painting seem even farther out.

All of this is very interesting and relevant to the work, however, it leaves out all human aspects of the work.  I often have this problem with Formalism because it denies some very important aspects of this painting.  One of the reasons that this painting is so coveted is because of the artist’s process of creating it.  She spent nearly fifteen years layering paint on the canvas and chipping it away until she finally came up with the image she was satisfied with.  This background information undoubtedly adds additional value to the work when you see how much time and effort and intent was behind the work, even if it isn’t initially apparent by simply viewing the work.

Enlightenment Theory and Criticism

This week, Pope’s Essay on Criticism was my favorite of the provided readings. This section in particular stood out to me:

'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill,
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence,
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense

I think that this is very important in a society where so much of the information we receive is transmitted verbally and via the internet.

                One prime example of information being verbally misconstrued in my life is through my friend Nick.  Nick likes to mix accurate information with what he thinks is true and sometimes even what he knows as false.  Before I got to know him and was able to identify when he was adding little bits of flair to his “facts,” I often took his words to be true.  I even told other people some of the information he had given me, believing it to be true.  This misleading of the senses accounts for thousands of inaccurate statistics we soak up and spew out to our fellow peers, further misleading them.

                The internet is just as bad as my friend Nick.  The internet has become extremely useful in many ways, but also allows for the distortion of many truths.  Sites like Wikipedia or others that allow anonymous posting allow people who aren’t experts to sound like experts.  Another teacher was just telling me how a student had cited a random website in their paper.  It turns out this website was created by a 6^th grade class for a project and most of the information was flawed, but the presenter had believed all of it.

                Due to this I complete understand the desire for bad writing over convincing but untrue writing.

Classical Antiquity Continued

On Longinus and Aristotle:

This week, I found the Longinus reading to be particularly interesting.  At first I didn’t completely agree with what he was saying.  To me, the sublime could be simple and pure, whereas he says that it should not only be initially beautiful, but must also be able to maintain its beauty upon deeper analysis.  Eventually, however, I realized that we actually have similar thoughts on sublimity.  A dew drop for example is simple, pure and beautiful.  I initially thought that seeing sublimity is something so simple meant that we weren’t in agreement, however as I began to think about the beauty of the water drop and why it was so beautiful and it’s other attributes that make is special, I saw I was wrong.  Even simple things can be rather complex and therefore sublime.  Water is pure, but it refracts light, shows through color, and even gives life.

                 Due to the fact that I see nature as so often sublime, I wish that Longinus could have included more about sublimity in other areas besides literature, but seeing how this is a part of critical theory in literature, I guess that wouldn’t have made all that much sense.

                Another thing I particularly liked about Longinus was his desire for elevated diction.  This was very similar to Aristotle’s definition of “exotic names.”  Big words are always fun, even if sometime daunting and I thought exotic names sounded like a more exotic way of describing these words.

Analysis #1 Classical Antiquity

     In this skit, we see a prime example of a poor argument consisting of pure contradiction and no evidence or persuasive elements.  When contrasted with Gorgias’s “Econium of Helen” the difference between argumentation and well executed rhetoric becomes immediately apparent.  The two main characters of this skit are engaged in an argument, one of them even admitting that it is not necessarily a “good argument” in which neither is very persuasive to the other.  The characters merely contradict each other over and over in an effort to prove their respective points which seem to alter as the argument progresses.

     Instead of simply arguing back and forth in a series of “yes you did” and “no I didn’t” circular arguments as the two characters in the skit do, Gorgias makes a claim that Helen should be free of blame and then proceeds in his argument by stating the reasons as to why she shouldn’t be blamed.  He states that she was either in love, “persuaded by speech”, “ravished by force,” or “constrained by divine constraint.” This follow-through in his argument allows him to be far more convincing and effective than the two members of the skit.  As Gorgias states, persuasion must be added to speech in order to produce an influential argument.

There are only small glimpses in which the two actors employ any sort of use of rhetoric.  One of these times actually is in reference to rhetoric.  The actor argues, “An argument is a collective series of statements to establish a definite proposition,” but is quickly contradicted by a non-supported claim afterwards.  The only other instance that attempts at effective rhetoric is when one of the actors supplies an alternative argument for a claim made by the other actors.  One states that he has paid since they are still arguing and the other quickly refutes by offering the possibility that he could be arguing on his free time instead of as a result of payment.

Gorgias states many things about the power of speech, but the most notable might be:

The effect of speech upon the condition of the soul is comparable to the power of drugs over the nature of bodies. For just as different drugs dispel different secretions form the body, and some bring an end to disease and others to life, so also in the case of speeches, some distress, others delight, some cause fear, others make the hearers bold, and some drug and bewitch the soul with a kind of evil persuasion.

Indeed, the speech the characters participate does act as an effect on the condition of one of the actors.  He becomes flustered and most certainly “distressed” and at times “bold” due to his frustration with the inaccuracy of the speeches being presented to him.  The effect can also be quite confusing and disorienting for anyone viewing the clip if they are unaware of what is occurring in the scene.


Works Cited



Benthecartoon. "Monty Python Argument Clinic." Web. March 15 2011.

Gorgias “Econium of Helen" (1927). Print. New York:W.W. Norton & Company.