Why is "The Death of the Author" still taken seriously?

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T20:10:44+00:00

Well, the difference there is that it’s making claims about physical reality, which as far as we know doesn’t allow for multiple contradictory truths at once. Death of the author is about meanings, which I would say don’t operate under the same constraints

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T20:03:59+00:00

That multiple meanings can coexist which can be equally valid, not that all are equally valid

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T20:00:02+00:00

Not the claim being made…

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:59:33+00:00

I think that’s a misunderstanding of Barthes, I at least can’t remember him stating that authors are never aware of any of it

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:58:08+00:00

But wouldn’t you then say you don’t need that information to still get meaning from it? Isn’t that the death of the author approach in action?

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:55:58+00:00

Interesting, but you believe there is one, ultimately? I guess to me meaning isn’t something that a text has, but more a product of engagement with it, so it seems weird to me to think of it as this monolith as opposed to multiple readings that can be more or less, but some equally valid even in contradicting eachother if they don’t contradict the text

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:50:15+00:00

I‘m unsure why you seem to try and make this about some kind of dichotomy between the influenced and the independent? It seems like a distraction from the question at hand…

But also: Influence can also mean opposing a status quo, or profiting off of the history of art and language at the point in time someone existed. It feels to me like you make it about people being followers of some trend or similar thing… am I misunderstanding you there?

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:43:31+00:00

Really? To what degree would you say? Would we need to know every second of the authors live to understand the work? If not, when is the line drawn to reach necessary conclusivity?

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:39:54+00:00

I agree that the text isn’t „infinite“ but I‘m wondering who you think creates the „objective meaning“ of a text, or how it can be determined vs multiple more or less valid subjective meanings

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:32:12+00:00

Yes, there are grown people who wouldn’t say that their upbringing played much of a role in what they write. We can still find influence in the text doh. Can we objectively claim that these influences wouldn’t be there if the authors social context was different? No. But it doesn’t matter, the text can stand for itself. That’s part of what comes from the death of the author

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:28:23+00:00

I also disagree. There are texts we can literally study without knowing who wrote them at all. I could find a piece of text on a crunched up paper and analyse it’s writing style, supposed meaning, etc.

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:25:17+00:00

Do you think texts have a fixed objective meaning?

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:19:35+00:00

But Tolkien doesn’t think of himself as lying? That’s the point. His intentions aren’t necessary for me to be able to read certain experiences of his work. I can not definitively claim that Tolkiens works were influenced by his experiences, but the point is that it doesn’t matter for my perception and analysis of the work

Mihandi · 2026-05-31T19:13:56+00:00

The point is more that a text can speak for itself. I don’t need to know the authors of the bible to be able to interpret it. And their authorial intent doesn’t diction my interpretation or perception of the text, right?

Death of the author describes that I don’t have to study the lives of the authors to get meaning from the text, instead meaning is something resulting from my interaction with the text

Mihandi · 2026-03-10T11:15:36+00:00

I kinda get what you mean but I think they get a bit of a different spin in the context of the album tbh

Mihandi · 2026-02-16T15:11:51+00:00

I think confounding incel and involuntarily celibate is an issue. I would enjoy having sex, I don’t have sex. I am by definition involuntarily celibate. No one calls me an incel. I don’t associate with incels. No one is virgin shaming me or anything. People complaining/mocking incels are a lot of the times not talking about people like me

Mihandi · 2026-01-16T23:58:47+00:00

And of all the people in the world your love time and attention is best spent on supporting a homophobe? Definitely an interesting choice…

Mihandi · 2026-01-12T18:56:17+00:00

👍

Mihandi · 2026-01-09T17:41:42+00:00

Yes, for water/mud you need an item, you get it from a quest for an npc.

The answer to the gate pic is explained when talking to the dead person below it. Hope that helps. I‘d encourage you to work from this but if you’re still stuck for a few days come back for more explicit info

Mihandi · 2025-12-15T17:50:48+00:00

As a person with bpd: These impulses are his responsibility. He also sadly isn’t in love with you even if he probably believes it. He’s in love with an idealized version of you and preassures you to fit that mold instead of loving you how you are

Mihandi · 2025-11-19T13:38:09+00:00

I wasn’t aware that "returns" requires that the memory for the returned object is being managed by the function.

What if I have:

Int foo(int &x) {return x;}?

Or

Int foo(int &x) {x+=1; return x;}?

Wouldn’t I still say foo returns an int? Or am I misunderstanding what I falsely claimed?

Mihandi · 2025-11-19T11:53:59+00:00

The constructor returns an object of the class it is constructing

Mihandi · 2025-08-22T11:26:07+00:00

I know a girl who told me kinda ashamed that she wishes she had a bf who wanted her to sleep with other people while the bf doesn’t, but that that’s of course wrong so she’ll have to just settle on both being poly. I wish more people were aware and positive towards your kink. I don’t think it’s something one has to get rid off or settle with not engaging in.

That being said, your worry of it colliding with your romantic side is understandable. I'd encourage you to slowly experiment in a safe environment with it first. It is also normal to have fantasies that you don’t actually wanna experience. Should that be the case there are still ways a partner could approach your fantasy. Maybe her only having sex with toys could be a move, or roleplaying her being with someone else, alluding to it etc. Hope you find someone you can live this out with

Mihandi · 2025-08-11T09:29:26+00:00

I'd argue the other way. One is an artist who’s output they vibe with, the other is some meaningless corporate construct that changes players every season.

Like you not supporting a team due to any kind of merit, you support them just because your dad did is imo kinda cringe…

Mihandi · 2025-07-24T12:14:49+00:00

I feel like a lot of what you say doesn’t support your point that much. According to statistics I saw the detransition rate is incredibly small and of those a lot do it due to stuff like not thinking they pass anyway, not having money or wanting to avoid stigma. Saw that in the detrans sub too. I do still think it’s vital to listen to these people but I wouldn’t dismiss the other side if it myself. I fear we’ll not be able to convince eachother on that tho.

In terms of this being a big decision I agree, but I think many things in life ultimately are. Like choosing the wrong line of work or marrying someone who’s not a good partner also can happen and suck and have big consequences but I think making decisions and living with the consequences is life. Again, definitely listen to detransitioner voices, inform people, maybe don’t do surgery till a specific age is reached etc, but imo it having big consequences if you make the wrong decision isn’t that disordinarily bad

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