Post by jeff0253 on Jun 16, 2014 23:10:09 GMT
I must reveal myself to be fair: I'm a professor of literary theory :-) Sorry to introduce the jargon; I was just writing away and thinking out loud, so to speak. There are two relevant texts:Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author" and Michel Foucault's "What is an Author?" I teach both of them to my senior seminar in lit theory, usually right at the beginning, because they are great for getting the students to rethink the way in which they approach texts. This includes visual texts, of course. To over-simplify a bit, both essays assert that the "author" is not the person who wrote the story; he or she is a semiotic function, a textual and structural marker of narration. Thus the Sherlock Holmes ep is a perfect example of the show's writers playing with this concept. I know a couple of tv writers--the son of a colleague of mine wrote Criminal Minds, so I know they are well-versed in this concept.
Of course, you needn't have read Foucault or Barthes to enjoy Murdoch. But I was pleased and entertained in an extra-pleasant way when I saw what they were doing. As Horace said, the highest purpose of the poet is to "teach and delight' ("poet" in the old Greek sense of the "maker" of the text, cf. "poesis").
No worries, I promise to limit the pedantry in the future.
Of course, you needn't have read Foucault or Barthes to enjoy Murdoch. But I was pleased and entertained in an extra-pleasant way when I saw what they were doing. As Horace said, the highest purpose of the poet is to "teach and delight' ("poet" in the old Greek sense of the "maker" of the text, cf. "poesis").
No worries, I promise to limit the pedantry in the future.
