"The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author." -Roland Barthes.
I am not sure how I feel about this quote.
On the one hand:
When people spend all their effort in researching about the life of the author, and WHY they wrote what they did, it may take out the creativity of a reader. They will just willingly and effortlessly agree on what the author says. Readers may use knowledge and experiences of the author to excuse, or validate what the author says. If the author is unknown, no feelings are superficial or completely biased.
On the other hand:
Working on my author spotlight project had me become more interested in authors. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a great guy from what I have read, and not only that, and there is so much purpose in his writing. Learning about his life helped me read and understand his statements better. Even if writing is fictional, or about someone completely random, I believe that the author is somehow strongly related to their characters in most cases.
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A main reason all of my favorite books have made my list is because I relate to them in a personal way: the characters remind me of myself, I've been in similar situations, I've wanted to be in that situation, or countless other things that make what happens in the book to me. I agree with you--if you only agree with the author, what are you taking away from the book? How it making an impression on you?
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