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Abstract: The paper investigates the category of “author” in the studies of Michel Foucault related to language, literature and thinking. The work actually focuses on two Foucault’s most important studies, in which the author’s category is directly addressed: the essay “Fantasia of the library” and the lecture “What is an Author?” In addition, Foucault’s research is analyzed in comparison with a similar work of the same period, “The Death of the Author” (1967) by Roland Barthes. The aim of the study is, firstly, to analyze the little-known work of Foucault “Fantasia of the library”, and secondly, to consider the research paradigm of Michel Foucault in the context of his attitude to the figure of the author in the text, in particular, in the fiction text. This problem has various difficult aspects: the analysis of works related to one period of Foucault’s work shows that the position of the scholar was ambivalent. On the one hand, Foucault follows the trend characteristic of the “archaeological period” of his work. This period is characterized by the desire to minimize the role of the subject in social practices. On the other hand, the analysis of Foucault’s works shows that his category of the author is not reduced, but is considered by the researcher comprehensively. At the same time, Foucault takes into account not only the generation of texts and meanings, but also their continued existence in the field of knowledge. The author of the article suggests taking a different look at the habitual perception of the author’s figure by Foucault in terms of a philosophical study. In addition, the author shows that when analyzing literary texts, the author’s figure in Foucault’s works acquires a literary status. Thus, the results of the work present the concretization of the place and specificity of the category of the author and authorship in Foucault’s research paradigm. In addition, it was found that the fiction text itself occupies a special place for Foucault, being a more complex object of study, and, accordingly, the role of the author in the text varies depending on the specificity of the text and the nature of the discourse. These conclusions may become valuable for researchers of literary texts, as they illuminate another way of analyzing the category of the author, as well as the meaning of this category not only in the text, but also beyond it. In addition, the study acquaints readers with a little-known essay by Michel Foucault, which is important in the literary aspect.

About the author(s) :

Maria M. Ozhigova
Lomonosov Moscow State U niversity (Moscow, Russia)
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9631-0446

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 29.04.2022; date of publication: 29.12.2022

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