The Author

Foucalt says that the author is dead because the author is not the center; it is only part of the structure. The author is not the origin of the text, but instead, a product of writing. The author is a function of discourse.

“To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing” (Barthes 188).

I think this quote from Barthes “The Death of the Author” reinforces Foucalt’s idea that the author is a function of discourse, and if the author is not dead, then that limits the discourse of the text. Barthes said that (Mallarme [?]) said that it is language that speaks and not the author. This is where the author starts to become de-centered because the reader hasn’t been taken in account. It is the reader that interprets the text and finds the meaning – every reader brings their own history to a text. For an author to say that their writing has only one meaning would be limiting the text.

I kind of feel like my ideas about the author are a little bit unorganized, but in any sense, I'm going to go on and talk about the author and blogging. Barthes said about writing:

"...that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the sumbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death, writing begins" (Barthes 185).

Writing doesn't truly begin until the author's death occurs. The focus moves from the author to the language of the text. In the case of blogging, however, I disagree that the "author is dead." In blog writing, the author is very much alive and the center of the text. This entry at Sunlit Water addresses the sense of intimacy that exists on the internet. Writing on the internet, is very different from writing a piece of literature that is published as an actual text that you can hold in your hands.

The author is alive in blogging because the internet allows writers to update frequently; there really is no wait for publication. Bloggers tend to mix pieces of their personal life in with academics, politics, etc. I feel that readers of blogs not only read because of their interest in a topic that the blog covers, but also because of the personality of the blogger. In blogging, the author is not dead, and they are also part of the text, moreso than in traditional texts.

Freud and Psychoanalysis

Sublimination. It’s similar to repression, in the sense that they both work together. Repression is when things like desires that cannot be fulfilled and traumatic events are stored in the unconscious. These repressed ideas are no longer living in the conscious, therefore, the individual is not consciously aware of them. The process of sublimination takes the repressed information and expresses it in the form of something productive. For instance, one must subliminate their sexual desires and turn that energy into something like getting work done, exercising, etc. If individuals are constantly fulfilling those desires, nothing would get done. That is why the ego is necessary to balance the reality of what can and cannot be fulfilled and when it is appropriate.

I understand the Oedipus complex, but what I don't understand is why Freud didn't give the view of the female infant. Is this complex something ONLY the male infant experiences according to Freud? How is the female infant developing at the same time as her male counterpart? Freud claims that the male infant desires to eliminate the father so that he himself can have power. Does this mean that the female infant reacts in opposition to the Oedipus complex and instead wishes to eliminate the mother to replace her? I feel like Freud's ideas are geared towards masculinity (only). I think it could possibly be related to the time period he completed his studies in, although, I'm not entirely sure.