context

I really enjoyed reading Barthes: A Biography (English tranlsation by Andrew Brown 2017, original in French by Tiphaine Samoyault, 2015) and I didn't really know why. But just now, referring back to it and thinking about it, I think it's because Samoyault entwines Barthes's ideas with his life and relates those ideas and that life to other thinkers, like Foucault and Kristeva. 

so there's a very nice fusion of the intellectual life and the lived experience, and it establishes a kind of relationship between you, the reader, and the subject - Roland Barthes. It's interesting to think about this in relation to Barthes's idea of 'the death of the author'. On the one hand, Samoyault doesn't intrude on the text. Her concern is to tell us about Barthes. But, on the other hand, it is her unique capabilities and sensibilities that enable her to do this so well. So, by forgoing the role of the intermediary, she acts as a very effective intermediary. 

and I think that gives us some insight into the true meaning of Roland Barthes's famous idea of  'the death of the author'....actually, when I use the word 'true', I'm probably just talking about a meaning that I feel comfortable with and that I like - a meaning that I find interesting and thought provoking. It's not about saying that a text is not the expression of the author or that texts are composed by historical and social forces (although some people pretty much do end up expressing these kinds of views). It's about the role of the reader in constructing meaning and the way that the actual life of the author has very little bearing on that process. Like, for example, a lot of people enjoy the 'Game of Thrones' books and TV series, but they aren't that interested in George R. R. Martin, and most importantly, nobody needs to ask Martin what the real or true meaning of the texts is. Enjoying the books and the TV show may lead people to take an interest in George R. R. Martin, and it's always interesting to hear a writer's view about their own work, but they are different matters. When you're watching Game of Thrones, you don't even think about George R. R. Martin - you're thinking about the characters and the story. 

This separation of the text from the author is a good example, actually, of how birth is a also a kind of death. As soon as you express something, it becomes a thing in its own right, and the fact that it is separate, even from you, the one who expressed it, is born out by the way that you engage with it. We write to get a sense of what we think. Somehow we don't know, and we are as surprised as anyone at what comes out. That's what makes conversation so interesting.