Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Focault
I really loved Focaults essay on the author. He makes great points on why close reading is very important to readers. It is more about the written work than trying to find those relationships between the work and the author. The reason that I find close reading important is because of this statement Focault makes "Writing unfolds like a game that invariably goes beyond its own rules and transgresses its limits". This pertains mostly to fiction work. A novel is a fantasy world that is created. In a fantasy world, certain things just are not meant to make sense. Trying to find reality in a fantasy is almost impossible. Focault almost makes great points in his essay about the author and the validity of the word "work". Is an authors published work just his only work we should consider? Is that giving the author too much authority over literature?
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2 comments:
Well, in my opinion, I think it is difficult to separate the text from it's author. In Casino Royale, and especially Dracula, the text gives us clues into the life of the one who wrote it. Like Steve pointed out in his thread, this novel is sort of a fantasy which Fleming is playing out. This idea, of an author living vicariously through their narratives is not only interesting, but a key point in determining why certain lines were written that way and who the characters are analogous to in actual life. It opens up new dimensions to the text we may miss out on with a mere close read.
Maybe it was just me, but I thought the focus was partly on the Author and his characters, there is a break down of how the characters are similar to the author but not directly. Like the main character may not reflect the author, but other characters may, or characteristics may. This made me think of Stoker and Dracula. I forgot who mentioned that after the birth of his child Stoker's wife was no longer interested in sex, and he became promiscuous, this just screamed out Dracula to me, because of his many women, the brides, Lucy, Mina... I am sure if I knew more about Fleming I would be able to make some association, but I don’t.
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