Fouc-oh you didn't.

Michel Foucault’s “What is an author?” had to be one of the most difficult pieces I’ve ever read. The title was so simple yet so deceiving. It merely asks a simple question. But that question led to an entire essay of even more confusing questions, concepts, and ideas. The premise of this now famous essay questions the author function and his harmful role in society as someone who limits fiction. As a solution, he states we should not focus on the author (for he is already dead) but rather focus on a work’s mode of discourse.

The man who caused me grief. The smile is also deceiving. 

While it was an interesting read (more like reads since I had to read it at least five times to grasp the majority of his concepts), I cannot help thinking that his ideas and essay as a whole do not apply today. It is important to note that “What is an author?”, which was originally given as a lecture, was delivered in 1969, over forty years ago. According to Moore’s law, technology increases and changes every eighteen months. Breaking up forty years worth of change into eighteen-month increments means a lot of change, to put it simply. Just a few years ago, we were using beepers. Today in 2013, we are using smartphones, cell phones with the same capabilities as computers. In Foucault’s time, one of thefirst microchips was created. Now almost half a decade later, you would be considered technologically behind if you didn’t have your own computer.

With regards to today’s author function in comparison to Foucault’s author function, that too, would naturally change. Although there is no definite answer in exactly how much has changed, one thing that is certain is the tremendous amount of change in the modes of discourses. While Foucault was concerned with the author function and his affects on print and fiction, our concern today is no longer limited to just print. Instead, we have almost every piece of technology and its function as a mode of discourse to question.

Overall, it’s apparent that everything has changed since that lecture that itself forever changed post-structuralism. While Foucault made many interesting observations and contributed several thought-provoking ideas, in our ever-changing culture, it remains to be seen how much of his ideas can to applied to our world in the twenty-first century.