Foucault says that "the task of criticism is not to bring out the work's relationships with the author..." When reading this, I had a variety of mixed feelings. First, I disagreed with Foucault, a part of me thinks it is very necessary to show the relationship between the author and the work. The work is created by the author, therefore it is a part of the author, designed from the author's mind, and it may be important to acknowledge the author, and understand why in fact the work was produced. Then, I also agreed with Foucault, especially at the end of his essay when he says, "What difference does it make who is speaking?" Because the words, the message of the work is what is important, not who wrote it. However, not always, but in some works, in order to understand the text more clearly or deeply, the author must be brought into consideration. They are connected, and to disregard this connection, to say it doesn't matter who wrote the work, I think is somewhat foolish. Also, why is this such as issue? Even if the author isn't mentioned, if they are popular enough, normally just from reading a work the author could easily be named from their distinct writing style.
I found a blog on "ghostblogging," which I believe means having someone else, other than the original writer, write in one's blog, or that someone claims credit for writing the blog who did not actually write the blog. The blog also discusses "blog authorship." These are all new terms to me, since I am new to the "blog world." This individual believes that the author of a blog should not be reflected in the text, but the blog is also not independent of its original author. My first question is, how does one know if a blog is ghostwritten? That doesn't seem possible to me unless someone walks in on someone updating someone else's blog. Besides trying to prove that the writing style does not match previous writing styles, I don't see how this can be proven. Even when noticing different writing styles, I still do not see how this could be proven.
This blogger is talking about having others update a CEO blog, and how that would be no different from having someone give a newspaper interview under your name. This I believe is true.
Dr. McGuire, I am sorry if this blog seems lacking in any way, I've spent the majority of today at the hospital being diagnosed for pneumonia, and my head the past few days has not absorbed the reading very well. I attempted the post on monday, but could not publish what I wrote because it sounded awful when I reread it, and I find myself in the same problem today, but it is past 5 o'clock and I have no choice but to post. Foucault's essay was difficult for me to grasp, and I will reread it in hopes that I understand it better. I am sorry again, I just do not feel as though this post wasm y best work.
Also, the other picture on the cover of the book that is not an apple, is not a cat, and is not Derrida, is Barthes, correct?
4 comments:
I also like keeping onto the idea of the author (which I'm pretty sure you do, if I got that wrong, then the rest of my comment is kind of a waste) but after I read Foucault, I got the idea that he was accusing the literary world of not practicing what they were preaching. Even though they'd all ready established that the author was dead, nobody seemed to follow that logic to it's end, and people still privilaged (and still do) the weight of the author's intent in a text. But I think you got that vibe too.
Also, I like the look of your blog. It's all professional and such. I give you a digital "high five"
Since you're quoting me, I feel obliged to comment on a few things.
I found a blog on "ghostblogging," which I believe means having someone else, other than the original writer, write in one's blog, or that someone claims credit for writing the blog who did not actually write the blog. The blog also discusses "blog authorship." These are all new terms to me, since I am new to the "blog world." This individual believes that the author of a blog should not be reflected in the text, but the blog is also not independent of its original author. My first question is, how does one know if a blog is ghostwritten? That doesn't seem possible to me unless someone walks in on someone updating someone else's blog.
Let's start at the bottom: of course you are perfectly right that it is impossible to determine whether a blog is written by its alleged author or somebody else (and yes, that is what I mean by "ghostblogging"). However, I believe that the vast majority of blog readers will assume that the person claiming to write a blog is it fact the author and that breaking this unwritten rule has negative consequences (there are examples of ghostblogging that triggered some very bad press).
The difference between Foucault and his conception of the author on the one hand and blogs on the other is that blogs are not, by and large, considered to be fictional and bloggers rarely consider themselves writers of fiction or "authors" in the literary sense. The first person voice of a blog is generally assumed to refer to the person who owns the blog, not to a fictional charater. Contrast that with a novel - we do not assume that Robinson Crusoe and Daniel Defoe are the same person (though, admittedly, at the time of its publication, Robinson Crusoe was marketed as non-fictional account).
This individual believes that the author of a blog should not be reflected in the text, but the blog is also not independent of its original author.
I'm not sure what made you think that I claim the author should not be reflected in the text - he or she most certainly can be. But in company blogs (which are the blogs that I'm generally discussing) other issues are usually of equal or greater importance. A CEO will not write purely about his personal thoughts in an official company blog, but he will address issues relevant to the corporation as well. What I meant was basically that company blogs are not quite as personal as "regular" blogs are.
Good luck with your class and hat tip to Professor Murphy for using blogs in the classroom.
Best,
Cornelius Puschmann
First of all, Sputin, get some rest! Pneumonia is no small thing. Take care of yourself.
Secondly, Ryan (who has become Dr. Murphy on this forum--congrats!) is right on about Foucault's nuanced questioning of the author's supported death. Part of the challenge of the assignment to post both about Foucault or Barthes and about bloggers as "authors" involves getting a real grasp on our preconceived notions about authorship and on our ideas about which kinds of texts "require" authors (as cornelius p. gets at in his comment). By the way--thanks, cornelius, for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
Thank you Cornelius puschmann for your comment the other day, I was confused about the concept of "ghost blogging" but your comment cleared things up for me.
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