The Lexicon · Genealogy · Modern
BARTHES, ROLAND
1915–1980
The Death of the Author (The Vow of Authorlessness)
Barthes deposed the author and gave the text to the reader. CoCA codified the deposition in the Vow of Authorlessness (§3.4.2): the artist relinquishes the name to release the work. Barthes was diagnostic; we are operational. The Provisional Collective signs in the third person. The wall text bears no name. The reader, having arrived, makes the work happen.