Event overview
Goldsmiths Literature Seminar
Jack Underwood (Creative Writing, Goldsmiths)
Critics have long become comfortable with the notion of the 'Death of the Author', and the further implications of such a theory of text, intertext and subjectivity. In creative writing studies, however, there remains the problem of how as writers we might address such implications, given that it requires we also accept that we must relinquish control over how successfully we are able to communicate, or demonstrate our intentions – communication, we must understand, is only a secondary function of language, and as authors or poets, our thoughts, feelings and experiences can only be traced through the paradigmatic processes of our lexical selection. As writers we are unable to argue our work consists of meaning, rather that, while we have control over the formulation of a text, its meaning must always be understood to be in the constant process of becoming, through its reading and re-reading. This leaves us in a position of profound uncertainty: who am I talking to? What will they understand of my words? Am I as much a text as my work is, to be re-constructed? In which case, why write?
However, while these questions might seem overwhelming, or even obtuse to the wider business of books, characters and beautiful lines, it is possible to see this problem of being a ‘dead’ author, as being at the heart of how we make and conceive of great works of art on the page.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Mar 2012 | 6:30pm - 8:00pm |
Accessibility
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