Foucault's Pen

Foucault has a lot of really profound thought in his essay, so I know that it goes much deeper than my analysis. However, I feel that, because there is so much to expound upon, one must start somewhere, and that somewhere is with the author's control of the work.

Foucault begins his profundity first thing, giving the word "author" a certain amount of nobility in declaring its superiority. At first, this may seem a bit biased (he is, indeed, an author), but he continues with this motif, viewing writing almost as a sacred act at times. He does this by expressing the separation between an author and his or her work: "...[the author] is outside [his writing] and antecedes it" (p. 101). He proposes that the author essentially gives part of himself up in order to communicate his thoughts, and allows his ideas to escape into, "a space into which [his idea] constantly disappears" (102). Thus, the author not only pours out his personal thoughts and sacrifices a fraction of himself, but sets his idea free (this idea is not really mine, but Carlos Fuentes').

The reason this is so interesting is because even in our globalized day and age, any person can be an author, yet they still obey this logic. A blogger shares his or her ideas with the world knowing that anonymity is crucial to their openness. Their ideas are consumed without their person even being considered, per se. This empowerment is part of what introduced us to the information age.

Similarly, literary writers are able to do this as well. Samuel Clement used a pen name; Gertrude Stein wrote a fake autobiography for her partner. Both separated themselves from their personal thoughts and let the world devour them.

The last case is probably the most interesting: The Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison. Jemison herself releases her ideas to James Seaver to allow them to be free to the world. However, Seaver filtering through them means that he is intrinsically involved in their trasmission. Thus, just like we said in class, he gives the writing part of himself, synthesized with part of Jemison, making the product belong to both of them and neither of them.