Does a text require or is assigned an author?
The coming into being of the notion of the “author” constitutes the privileged moment of individualization of the history of ideas, knowledge, literature, philosophy, and the sciences. Even today, when we reconstruct the history of a concept, literary genre, or school of philosophy, such categories seem relatively weak, secondary and superimposed scansions in comparison to the solid and fundamental unit of the author and the work.
Thought
Individualization - the work of study is the work of many contributions with the author either combining them in a novel or enlightening way, or contributing their own idea. The body of this idea, the pre-requisites, are the thought of others. That layer atop, or the actual thread that stitched it, is the work.
When approaching studies, like in this “infinite digression” archive, authors are close to their works. From my perspective as the inquisitive consumer of the ideas, they are experienced as one. I trace the history of these ideas, these steps the originator walked while attempting to build on my own, critique, challenge, accept - basically engage.
What is the best way to navigate the deeper search? Following the author or the concept?
What does it matter who is speaking?
Today’s writing has freed itself from the theme of Expression.
Writing’s relationship with [Death]: Subverts an old tradition exemplified in Greek tradition of the epic, which was intended to perpetuate the immortality of the hero, if he was willing to die young.
Modern culture has metamorphosed the idea of a narrative or writing as something designed to ward off death. Writing is linked to the sacrifice of life.
the mark of the writer is reduced to nothing more than the singularity of his absence; he must assume the role of the dead man in the game of writing.
What is the work of an author when he has died? it is his published works, but is it also rough drafts. The plans for his aphorisms? The deleted passages and notes at the bottom of pages. A laundry list or note found in the pages.
How can one define a work amid the millions of traces left by someone after his death. A theory of the work does not exist and the empirical task of those who naively undertake in the editing of works often suffers in the absence of such a theory.
“Author Function” is the author as a function of discourse.