"What Is an Author?" () is one of the most important lectures given at the Société française de philosophie on 22 February 1969 by French philosopher, sociologist and historian

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

.Bouchard, Donald F. ed., ''Language, Counter-memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault'' (Cornell University Press, 1980), 113.

The Author is a certain functional principle by which, in our culture, one limits, excludes and chooses: ... The author is therefore the ideological figure by which one marks the manner in which we fear the proliferation of meaning.

For many, Foucault's lecture responds to

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

' essay "

The Death of the Author "The Death of the Author" () is a 1967 essay by the French people, French literary critic and Literary theory, theorist Roland Barthes (1915–1980). Barthes' essay argues against traditional literary criticism's practice of relying on the author ...

References

External links

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Michel Foucault et la fonction-auteur dans "Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur?"

'What is an Author?'
1969 speeches Essays in literary theory Michel Foucault {{lit-essay-stub