Michel Foucaultâs 1969 essay âWhat is an Author?â sidesteps the stormy arguments surrounding âintentional fallacyâ and the âdeath of the author,â offering an entirely different way of looking at texts. Foucault points out that all texts are written but not all are discussed as having âauthorsâ. So what is special about âauthoredâ texts? And what makes an âauthorâ different to other kinds of text-producers? From its deceptively simple titular question, Foucaultâs essay offers a complex argument for viewing authors and their texts as objects. A challenging, thought-provoking piece, it is one of the most influential literary essays of the twentieth century.
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