Title

On the authorship theory

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Introduction

This essay is divided into three parts. In the first part, the essay will examine the presence
of authors and ubiquitous authors in the field of professional or academic literary criticism,
and the essay will point out that in the public domain of a wide range of literary journals
and newspaper commentary, the author is still in a conceptual and At the center of
theoretical criticism. the essay will examine a specific example of Ted Hughes's Birthday
Letters (1998) in order to elaborate more on author-centric and literary issues in European
culture and critics' The relationship between problems. In the third part, the last part of this
article, the essay try to illustrate this point in the more general literary theory context and
in the context of the two views related to literature and author attributes raised by Jacques
Derrida's book (Price, 2010).

This essay examines the significant authorship theory with the use of a case study in order
to discuss the application of authorship theory. The genre approach would also be used in
the analysis. The essay in particular would refer to a critical authorship figure case study
in order to discuss the utility of the authorship theory in critical studies.

Author and authorship

An author is an individual that creates works of literature that is based on their own
experience as well as the process of reading other people’s literary work that is considered
to be substantially different from their own works. Therefore, based on this concept, the
author therefore becomes the person that is in possession of the literary work that he creates
and the works that are already published can still be credited to him. Authors usually are
accompanied with high social status due to their work that is highly respected by the public.

However, this traditional view of author and authorship has been put to significant question
and radical doubt as authorship theory in the 1960s proposes structural and poststructural
ideas of authorship which posits the subject of human not as a shaper and an originator of
the literary work. Instead, these theoriests posit the author as a space or a site which helps

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contribute to the work of literature as it is. Therefore, instead of considering an author as
the producer of a text, an author is considered as the product of a text. Authors are also
redescribed and redefined as function or effect that are created by the internal play of
languages in the text. This view is further enhanced by the famous ‘The Death of the Author’
by Roland Barthes in 1968 (Barthes, 1977).

In addition, further doubts were raised by Michel Foucault regarding the historical advent
and formation of the nation and concept of author. The essay of Foucault further offers
impetus to pose doubt over the prevailing concept of author and authorship, which is
defined as the various attributes that should be obtained and possessed by an author.

Instead, under the structuralists’ view, authorship is considered as a cultural construct that
has been undergoing significant change and development over the period of history that
can be subjected to changing social conditions and economic circumstances. Therefore,
authorship was developed over a long period of time in the western societies. That is why
cultural historians now emphasize the significant roles played by authors and other
individuals as well in constructing the concept of authorship. Such huge change in the
notion of authorship happens especially in the15th century when a manuscript oriented
culture in the literary area was changed and transferred into a print oriented culture. As a
result, the concept of multiple authorship was proposed due to the fact that literary work
now becomes the collaboration of a group of people not just the author that creates the
original text (Price, 2010, Morris, 2007). Therefore, it is questionable as to where the
emphasis should be as to who should be considered as the originator of a specific part of
the existing literary work. For example, an established modern literary work, such as a
movie, usually contains the work and collaboration of many people, including censorship,
printers, editors, publishers and the following revisions by the reputed author in the
production process.

Both Barthes and Foucault argues in their essays that the modern understanding and notion
of author and authorship is a result of the developments of capitalism and capitalist
economy in which a huge growth of middle class readers increase the demand over literary
titles and works that are printed. Therefore, an individual is more likely to become an

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intellectual owner of his product of literature. Authors are motivated to support the
copyright laws and intellectual property laws in an effort to sell their books to the public
in exchange for economic benefits. As a result, literature becomes material property and
the value of creativity, and originality becomes an essential part of authorship (Caughie,
2013).

It can be argued that there is a significant interplay between the institutional arrangements
and economic circumstances for marketing and producing literary works as well as the
details related with authorship. One revealing case is that of the literary works of
Shakespeare, whose literary writings are widely adopted by the commercial theater. In fact,
the literary plays of Shakespeare is a production of text that might invole many individuals
to conduct changes in text and insertions to the original version of Shakespeare himself.
As a result, the eventual product was not the intellectual property of Shakespeare but one
that belongs to the theater for commercial purposes.

The case of Steven Spielberg

The case of Steven Spielberg can be analyzed using both the traditional and structural view
of author and authorship. On 23 July 1982, Spielberg was both facing the best of times and
the worst of times. His move, E.T., became one of the most successful commercial movies
that were ever made at the time. However, catastrophe had hit him as his co-producer
Landis faced criticism and charges of racism. In addition, the explosions of the special
effects in the process of creating the film caused the crash of a helicopter that killed actor
Vic Morrow and also two Vietnam individuals, including a boy and girl aged 7 and 6 in
respective. As a result, Landis faced charges of manslaughter. Prosecutors and investigators
of the accident managed to discover evidence of negligence and irregularities in
employment process of workers for the movie filming process.

However, the authorities never interviewed Spielberg regarding the accident. Spielberg was
also widely criticized as he tried to distance himself from the relevant repercussions by
remaining silent. Spielberg managed to stay safe while his co-producer Landis faced
probably imprisonment that could last for 6 years long. As the case further drew attention

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from the public and the media, a huge number of individuals, groups and companies are
involved in the investigation process, including aviation and film industry safety boards,
carft unions, and federal and state level agencies (Morris, 2007, Stam, 2017).

This case could be connected with the authorship theory as Spielberg’s role as the co-
producer of the film should be considered in the process of making the film. In particular,
if Landis could be charged and convicted due to his negligence and other improper behavior
that caused the accidents, Spielberg too should be convicted accordingly as he was also a
member of the group that altogether helps create the firm. This can be linked back to the
authorship theory based on the structural or poststructural authorship supporters who claim
that authors as creators of literary works should be considered as the products or space that
are involved in the process of literary work creation. Therefore, Spielberg, same as Landis,
no doubt should be considered as an author involved in the production process of the movie.
Therefore, if Landis should be charged against manslaughther claims, the same charges
should be laid against Spielberg due to the fact that he, too, is an author according to this
definition. In fact, what happened is that, although Landis was reprimanded for his said
conduct that is unprofessional, Spielberg managed to avoid civil lawsuits.

In 1998, with Ted Hughes' publication of the birthday letter with the poetry of "repentance",
the author's problem and its complicated relationship with critical practice, literary
definition and literary system aroused great concern. The commentary on this poem
actually exposed the crisis of criticism the essay tried to analyze. the essay would also like
to point out that the reaction of people to this poem actually reflects the more general
enthusiasm of the author as a literary issue, which The enthusiasm is not only reflected in
the criticism, but also reflected in the study of the theory.

Hughes's long-awaited answer to life, death and creation is also a critical acceptance of his
ex-wife Sylvia Plath. Plays has been dead 35 years since Hughes left her for another woman
in 1963. Because of her death, at least as a result of the appearance of her death, Plath's
poetry was seen as characterizing her life. For decades after Plath's death, Hughes was
often blamed for her death, and the widely accepted view that Hughes was to some extent
responsible for the death of Plass has led to some Attentive events (Partridge, 2010,

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Gerstner, 2013). For example, during a poetic recitation tour to Australia, Hughes met a
group of marchers holding advertisements alleging that he had committed murder. A poem
of similar allegations has been published (Robin Morgan (12) ['The Arraignment'], 1972).
On the Platts gravestone in Yorkshire, the name Hughes was often erased; Hughes was
rebuked by protesters as a "fascist" at a public poetry reading. However, Hughes seldom
mentioned his relationship with Plath in public. The direct response of critics and the press
to the Letters of Life contains a frenzy of the biographical and biographical message that
the poem might reveal guess. In this respect, the commentary on this poem constitutes a
unique event what M. M. Bakhtin calls the "author crisis" (13), which now becomes the
focal point of interpretation and criticism. As Saeed, Avilight, and Bert put the author at
the center of what they perceive as the practice of criticism, every commenter of the
"birthday letter" justified his or her comment on Hughes' poetry more or less Or less to
clarify a set of theories about the author. Each commenter is driven by some kind of author's
idea to judge the value of this collection of poems and to judge the literary existence in
them.

In January 1998, the London Times published the "Letters of Birthday" published in the
UK. Hughes's successor, the British crown poet Andrew Musing, introduced the poems to
readers. Mussin bluntly put the selling point of poetry (and the newspaper's selling point)
in line with the biographical and autobiographical issues: He pointed out that poetry shows
the reader not only one author, but two authors, not only Hughes but also Pu Russ He
somewhat sensationally portrayed the poem as "a book written by a man who was uneasy,
frightened and deeply in love:" Mhingin said that for a life and death caused by Plath
Earthquake Letters touched his life, "Letters of Life Let us re-read Hughes's other poetry,
these poems" did not explicitly concerned Plath. " He declared in a provocative language
that as a result, "everyone from professor to paparazzi" was interested in these poems.

In the more general sense, Mussin's essay on the publication of the short essays and the
Letters of Birth, and the differences in the important theoretical positions in the process of
acceptance, involve both elusive and often acquiescent connections between the author's
life and his work Understanding. But like other critics of Hughes' poetry, Ms Simsin was
also troubled by this connection. Through a complex strategy of literary criticism, he

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pointed out that the development of this book symbolizes the trajectory of Plath's life.
Paradoxically, this correspondence in literature is also an aesthetical process: "It's like"
Alice Children's "poetry began its journey of life," Musing declared that "Plass is also
becoming increasingly explosive, so Hughes needed a strong self-protection and the
language of the work became more symbolic and private Sexuality.

Conclusion

In conclusion, This essay examines the significant authorship theory with the use of a case
study in order to discuss the application of authorship theory. This self-contradiction
allowed critics to incorporate some persuasive biographicity while escaping the crude
simplification of autobiographical reading: what Mhingin found in Hughes's poem"
Honesty The great driving force "itself has become a form of conservative secrets. Masing
pointed out that the closer the relationship between poetry and autobiography, the more it
has the function of self-protection, and the more the language of poetry is "symbolic and
private." So the more privately they appear to be, the more "literary" they seem to become
when they appear to be more obvious autobiographical. Ms Simin also pointed out that
although such poems seem "not to be appreciated" for a short period of time, they "will
take enough time" to be regarded as "the most perfect success." Musing claims that they "
Is a faltering poem that maintains dignity and will under the weight of emotion. " Assuming
that it fully expresses some of the millennium crises that criticism has undergone, Mhingn
explained that "the reason why this work can be handed down" lies in its "biographical
value" and has nothing to do with it: " Even if we ignore the value of his biography (why
do we want to do that?) Musing said: "The language, the technique of expression, and the
subtlety of imagination are sufficient to ensure its future spread" (14). Musing's eloquent
rhetoric (for example, he also used the insert language to ask the most critical questions
about biography) is confirming the anxiety about the author and literary biography in
contemporary European culture: why do we want to do that? Why do we not allow the
author to evaluate poetry and poetry to evaluate the author? Simply asking such questions
also faces the possibility that we should in fact avoid such problems. Minsin's concern and
anxiety on this issue can be seen as a reflection of a tense debate over the role of the author
in Western literary criticism over a century.

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