In the writing of

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...

, the author function is the author as a function of discourse. The term was developed by

in his 1969 essay "

What Is an Author? "What Is an Author?" (french: Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur?, link=no) is a lecture on literary theory given at the Société Française de Philosophie on 22 February 1969 by French philosopher, sociologist and historian Michel Foucault.Bouchard, Donald F ...

" where he discusses whether a text requires or is assigned an author. Foucault posits that the

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

was central in the rise of the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, as an author was needed (in order to be punished) for making

transgressive Transgressive may mean: *Transgressive art, a name given to art forms that violate perceived boundaries *Transgressive fiction, a modern style in literature *Transgressive Records, a United Kingdom-based independent record label *Transgressive (l ...

statements. This is made evident through the rise of the printing press during the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, when religious texts that circulated challenged the authority of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The author function does not affect all texts in the same way. For example, the author of a science

text book A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...

is not as clear or definable as the author of a well known

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. It is not a spontaneous creation or entity, but a carefully constructed social position.

References

Archaeology of knowledge
by Michel Foucault, Alan Sheridan {{Michel Foucault Writing Deconstruction Literary theory Michel Foucault

See also

References