eureka.

now that i actually understand the idea of the role of an "author" and what that word actually "means," i feel a little more comfortable with the removal of the entity from my experience. it also alleviates the responsibility placed upon ME because I am not my writing, my writing is merely a persona of myself. so, if i don't do well on this project, i won't take it too personally, since blog marie and real marie are different. this sort of stripping down can become problematic if you overthink it though (which i aways do) because every image of ourseves is a projection to be interpreted and analyzed with regard to what people already know about me. or something.

at first, this was horrifying and insulting, this removal of the author. the blood sweat and tear of these artists, just washed off their personal histories, given away to the masses by some AUTHORity on the pitfalls of authorship...foucoult...but as we discussed the "blame" aspect of the theory, and the idea that we seem to have to know about this stuff or else.

according to barthes (the theory not the man himself) the known author imposes a limit on a text - which is why bible analysis tends to be so extensive. we don't know who the author was, so we have no idea what his intentions were. we can offer guesses, which we do at legnth, but we don't really have any conclusive answers.

i've been reading this woman's blog, and i think that if her author function is anything like herself, i'd probably like her. i'm trying to explicate her life to some degree, through what she reveals through her blog (http://dooce.com/) but its tough, because it's anecdotal and these things really could have happened to anyone, but are compelling and charming (after i wrote that i found the about me section and it is so worth reading, she needs to write a book, although that would make her a TRUE AUTHOR with a BODY OF WORK embedded in LITERATURE heaven forbid). i am not this charming; she is the type of person i want to have an author function. i'm not this funny, not this pretty, not this clever. my roommates and i were in stitches reading this. AND SHES A MORMON. i am a bored, uninspired lapsed catholic. her experience as a fomer alcoholic mormon stay at home mom LA scum chick have given her this scope and this "dictionary" with which to write. i dont want people to read my blog, because i know they won't if people like her are writing better ones. its not my medium and i'm over it. she is a good blogger. i am not a blogger at all. my author is too functioning and present and not interesting enough for even me to read.