Shades of Gray

I found that the readings for the past two weeks have displayed the idea that "authorship" is a mixture of different ideas. Macherey says that art is not a creation, but a product of man's labor. If we say that an author is a creator and owner of what he has produced, then we agree with Macherey. Becker says that art is a network of people who cooperate to produce a work. When thinking of movies and television, it is difficult to disagree. Heath says that the author is a product of society, so the work is a product of society. Freud believes the work is the product of the author's fantasies (immagine the reader's fantasies). Foucault says that a text always bears signs that refer to the author. Whichever of the statements one agrees with, at the same time, it is difficult to deny the other statements. I think it is very tricky to be able to choose a single theory.

Derek Kompare's article and the articles in Authors Inc. talk about author-branding. This seems as if it leans toward coding. Wollen says motifs should be used for coding. If a particular author writes the same way, then all the works will have the same motif. Therefore, they will be coded the same way. The author's name becomes the code instead of the work itself. I think that is where some of the theories are conflicting. Is the author the important factor or the work; or are they one in the same (branded)?

I tend to look at an author as a person doing their job. Some just happen to do it better than others. Like athletes, some are touched by God and are extremely successful at what they do. I also believe that authors become what they write. The audience begins to have expectations of what the work will be like. Although the audience will be pleasently surprised at times, it does not always work out that way as in the case of Mark Twain's autobiography. Because of his prior success, his audience still read it. We behave the same when it comes to music. We enjoy a group, buy their CD, and expect there to be a signature style. In many cases we get what we expect. Every so often we are disappointed.