Salinger and Barthes
Lomanno (lomanno@ix.netcom.com)
Sat, 12 Sep 1998 11:00:40 -0400
I think Camille brought up some fascinating points about the author's
intention and Roland Barthes. Lately, I've been playing around with the
question of "reader-as-writer," which is what I think Barthes had in
mind with "Death of the Author." Basically, as soon as words hit paper,
the author is no longer the "author" of the work. Each reader puts his
or her thoughts into the reading of the text, and these ideas actually
change the meaning of the text itself. The author's intention becomes
irrelevant.
According to Barthes, it doesn't matter if Salinger intended for
Seymour to be a pedophile. If the reader sees him that way, that is
who Seymour is. And Salinger has taken this idea to extremes (probably
not consciously) by dropping out of the picture and allowing his texts
to be read however they are read. They are no longer his texts; they
belong to the reader.
Courtney Love is a good example of this because she is a very
complicated "character" (although I tend to lean toward the loud mouthed
twit interpretation). To "readers" who see her as a successful actress
and musician, that is who she is. And those of us who see her true
colors see a manipulative opportunist (but that's another web site).
My main question here is, where does that leave Salinger's unread
manuscripts? Can a text truly be "written" if no one is around to read
it (kind of a spin on the tree-falling-in-the-woods question)? I'm not
sure where I stand on this question, but I'm leaning toward "NO." I
mean, I've written dozens of crappy stories and poems that no one has
ever read, and to me those stories are dead. They have not been given
life by the reader, so they just end up being words without meaning.