The Trials And Tribulations Of An Author Who Was Imprisoned by the Author-centric Reader
Open Access
Author:
Garino, Alyson Marie
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Lisa Ruth Sternlieb, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Marcy Lynne North, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Oscar Wilde Roland Barthes The Picture of Dorian Gray Queensberry Trial
Abstract:
This paper reveals Roland Barthes’ concept of author-centric reading and its consequences. Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, anticipates Barthes’ theory through portraying the protagonist, Dorian Gray, as a spectator who constantly ties art to an artist, making him author-centric critic. For Barthes, an artist must be disregarded when examining a work of art. In theory, the figurative death of the author leads to the eventual birth of a spectator, allowing the spectator to freely interpret a work without being constrained by an artist’s tyrannical hold on a work. In addition to Oscar Wilde’s novel, the Queensberry Trial, which is the libel trial that, through the use of The Picture of Dorian Gray, ultimately led to Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment for homosexual activity, represents the consequences of author-centric reading.
