Authority Rendered Obsolete by Reader’s Action Essay

When a person writes, they intend to inform, entertain, admonish or give direction to the reader. Since writers create the message, it is assumed that they have an advantage over the audience. However, the authority of writers is often infringed from the time they have an idea to when they unleash it into a literary work. During her presentation, Morrison comments that people are not always open to allowing a writer to “publish their judgments or follow their creative instincts” (00:01:13). This indicates some form of an impediment to the author’s authority.

Moreover, even after printing, many factors gradually transfer power to the reader and society in general. Using Calvin’s novel If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, and with support from other sources, this paper explains the interchange of influence in textual interpretation. Although the author is the original creator, they do not have the autonomy of enforcing meaning; hence the readers always use their subjective power of exposition and recreation to disposition the writer.

The authority of the writer is only eminent when they know more than the audience because the message is yet to be consumed. In the opening chapter, Calvano states, “You are about to begin reading Italos’ Calvino’s new novel…relax, concentrate, dispel every other thought” (Calvino 1). The invitation gives Calvino some level of command since he is directing the reader on what to do. Notably, the reader is likely to submit to Calvino’s urges to seek a serene environment where they can skim through the text.

In the first and second chapters, the reader is addressed using the pronoun “you,” but in the third chapter, these changes to “I.” The author expects the reader to surrender their identity and assume a relationship with another fictional audience. The novel unfolds as a mindboggling trickster, but as the reader continues to understand the intention of Calvino, they gain more power. They can interpret the content subjectively and have the ability to give their meaning.

Additionally, the author is not always confident of which content to jot down, which makes their authority doubtable. The narrator in Calvino’s novel informs the reader that “perhaps the author still has not made up his mind, just as you…” (Calvino 12). It is interesting that initially, the author is seducing the audience to take a good posture to concentrate on the novel. However, after winning over the reader, the writer is lost as to whether they will be able to satisfy their expectations. The narrator provides an objective assessment showing that whereas the person studying is not convinced whether they should continue being informed from the book, the author has the task of convincing them to complete.

Texts only come to be if read and not when written, making studying a better privilege than authoring. The writer’s central ambition is to ensure that their literature is read by the desired audience. They have to do all forms of advertisement to ensure that the book they have written does not merely remain in the library but gets to the hands of people. Conversely, reading, as described by Calvano, is “a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed” (72). There is no pressure for the audience to do anything but only peruse the literature. The implication is that the person with less pressure to act, please, or attract possesses more power.

There is always a discordance between the signified and the signifier; hence the writer finds it difficult to project a fixed meaning. The signs and societal system mediate the interpretation that the reader gets. The problem is that the same object can have varying connotations based on the background of the person viewing it. A writer with a bigger audience will always have a problem passing the intended message and may feel misunderstood. According to Morrison, “writers who construct mean in the face of chaos must be nurtured and must be protected” (00:07:33-00:07:035). The statement affirms that some writing always makes a portion of readers uncomfortable because of the interpretation they make. The authors, thus, are slaves wanting to share the truth but suffering for it when the meaning is interpreted targeted.

The reader always becomes the creator of the new meaning and overrides what the writer had initially formed.

Moreover, the author may find it difficult to create meaning if the reader has preconceived ideas and conclusions on the topic. Often, the human mind has mental schemas constructed by taboos, society, the environment, and other prior information. Ludmilla confirms that she needs to strip herself of “every purpose, every foregone conclusion, to be ready to catch a voice …” (Calvano 239). The level of concentration depicted by Ludmilla can only be achieved by a few people. For instance, the novel mentions Lotaria, who reads literature as a political analyst. She cannot fully enjoy and learn from the author because of that attitude. Most people read while using their existing mental schemas to recreate the writer’s work.

Furthermore, defamation of the author will always minimize their power and respect accorded to them even when what they are saying is truthful. The fact that the writer knows more than the audience does not always result in them being heard. This is evident in Morrison’s statement that there are “two human responses to the perception of chaos, naming, and violence” (00:5:29-00:5:38). Labeling the authors by politicians, ignorant people, activities, and others shifts focus from the content.

Therefore, the author has the task of convincing the reader that they have the qualification and credibility to dispatch the information. In Calvano’s novel, the voice of the narrator, which is symbolic of society, midframe, or any individual defaming the author, tries to dissuade readers from trusting the novelist. This struggle of constantly having to prove oneself to the audience may take away power from the writer.

The counterargument that the reader submits to the author-ity can be easily countered by the fact that the action of the person studying renders the intention of the author irrelevant. The authority of the writer may cause a person to read but, in most cases, it is the text that possesses the most power. Wallace elaborates that “A dictionary can be an ‘authority’… by the accuracy and the completeness of its record of the observed facts” (9). The implication is that it is the texts that are scrutinized. The personality of the author is never desirable as the standard for measuring if literary art is successful.

Conclusively, the author’s authority in creating content and influencing people to read is nullified by the fact that readers always interpret the text subjectively. The writer has to lure the audience to read their text; only then will the former be confident that they have influence. Even then, ensuring that the reader remains glued to the literary art is not easy. As the reader’s study, their preconceived ideas and mental schemas determine the interpretation they make; thus, the message of the author can be lost. The other challenge to author-ity is defamation which causes distortion and raises doubt as to the audience doubt credibility of the person. Furthermore, the reader may decide to ignore the author and test the text. The implication is that the author is unable to maintain their authority.

Works Cited

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

Morrison, Tony. “Toni Morrison Discusses Freedom of Expression and the Writer’s Role.” YouTube, PEN America. 2008. Web.

Wallace, David Foster. Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage. Harper’s Magazine, 2001. Web.