I’m currently busy working on my Critical Theory essay, seeking to answer the question “Is the author dead?”
My argument is that modernity’s idea of the Author, as a God-like infallible and rational subject with complete mastery of His words, is indeed dead. Postmodernism rightly kills the author’s pretentions to be God.
But rather than abandoning the author altogether, the death of the Author-as-God should lead us to a right understanding of the author-as-human, a responsible communicative agent. I’m working from some of the ideas put forward in the book Is there a meaning in this text? by Kevin J Vanhoozer, which attempts to put forward “a systematic and trinitarian theology of interpretation that promotes the importance of Christian doctrine for the project of textual understanding” – or, more briefly, a Christian understanding of how and why things mean something.
I’ll probably be blogging some on the ideas I’ve covered this term in Critical Theory this semester, at least once I’ve got some of my essays out the way. I started actually writing my Critical Theory essay this weekend and have now written around one-third of it, so I’m pleased that I’m making some tangible progress. It’ll be interesting to see what the lecturers think of my rather unconventional take on the subject!
I’m hoping to finish this essay by the end of term, have most of my Creative Writing portfolio done, and have gathered all the material I need for my Heresy essay and Children’s Literature essay. These are all due in after Christmas, so it’s a matter of getting as much done now so I don’t have to do as much in my holidays, and prioritising what I need to do down here in Cardiff while I have access to the library and everything. Anyway, back to work…