Author function
The Author function is the author as a function of discourse. The term was developed by Michel Foucault in his 1969 essay “What Is an Author?” where he discusses whether a text requires or is assigned an author.
Foucault posits that the legal system was central in the rise of the author, as an author was needed (in order to be punished) for making transgressive statements. This is made evident through the rise of the printing press during the time of the Reformation, when religious texts that circulated challenged the authority of the Catholic Church.
The author function does not affect all texts in the same way. For example, the author of a science text book is not as clear or definable as the author of a novel. It is not a spontaneous creation or entity, but a carefully constructed social position.
The author function, a concept by Michel Foucault describes the author as a discourse construct rather than a real person, serving to classify texts, create expectations for readers, and fulfill legal and cultural roles, particularly for regulating transgressive statements. It involves a complex set of social and institutional procedures that attach a name to a text, influencing its interpretation, circulation, and the assumptions we make about its meaning, style, and context.
Key Aspects of the Author Function
A Social and Cultural Construct: The author function is not a spontaneous creation but a constructed position within a legal and institutional framework, varying across different texts, historical periods, and cultures.
Text Classification: It acts as a classificatory function, differentiating one text from another and relating it to other works and authors.
Reader Expectations: The presence of an author’s name creates certain expectations and assumptions in a reader regarding a text’s style, ideology, and quality.
Legal and Property Aspects: Foucault highlights the role of the legal system in establishing the author function, particularly for holding individuals accountable for transgressive statements and for the legal and financial framework of intellectual property and copyright.
Historical Variability: The author function is not universal. For instance, the concept of author is more prominent and important in literary works than in scientific or technical texts, where the content is often valued over the author’s identity.
Beyond the Individual: Foucault suggests that the “author” associated with a work, especially after the “death of the author” by Roland Barthes, can be a composite of many individuals who contributed to the text’s final form, rather than just one person.
How it Works
Discourse: The author function is a characteristic of discourse itself, not a spontaneous attribution to an individual.
Procedures: It is established through a series of complex procedures that determine and articulate the realm of texts, linking a text’s meaning to an “author-function” rather than a biographical person.
Impact on Interpretation: By connecting a work to an author-function, a reader is guided to interpret the text within a particular framework of assumptions, such as the association of a name like “Shakespeare” with a certain standard of literary quality