Bringing the Author to Life in the Digital Age
How involved does a writer get in his or her reader’s lives? How involved do the readers get in the writer’s life? If we had thought about this question 100 years ago, or even 50, we would probably say that there is very little involvement between the two. Literary theorist Roland Barthes certainly thinks so. In fact, Barthes’ theories about an author who is essentially “dead”—meaning that the novel and its creator have nothing to do with each other—may seem logical in a non-technological world. But in today’s modern society and digital culture, we see a drastic change in the author/reader relationship. Modern writers are connecting with readers through modern means of communication: essentially creating a living, working, and involved relationship.
Roland Barthes expressed that "‘to give a text an Author’ and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it ‘is to impose a limit on that text’" (Death of the Author, par. 4). I can see that he has a point, but modern writers, an example being Toni Morrison, are showing that this is not the case. On the contrary, they are showing that the author should be there for their readers in order to expound on themes and issues that may be hard to understand, and ultimately help the reader personally connect to the work of literature.
The Interactive Author
Toni Morrison was already a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner when her novel Song of Solomon was chosen as a selection in Oprah’s Book Club, the national book club of the daytime talk show host, Oprah Winfrey. Morrison had already established her artistic value as a postmodern author when she became a part of one of the most dramatic examples of postmodernism’s union of canonicity and commercialism. With Morrison’s involvement in Oprah’s Book Club, we see not only an integration of Morrison’s academic audience and her popular audience, but also an integration of her black audience and her white audience. Just as she defies literary norms in the plot and character development of her novels, she also defies the tradition of the ways an author must behave—particularly African American women writers.
What we see in Morrison is a new kind of relationship between the author and reader. Morrison may be criticized for becoming involved in a daytime book club to promote her novels because up until then, writers usually took on the role of being secluded from the readers, or as Barthes coined, being “dead” and leaving the text to speak for itself. Morrison sought to make a different move from this expectation. She makes a particular effort to connect with both high and popular cultures. She has remarked that “I would like my work to do two things: be as demanding and sophisticated as I want it to be, and at the same time be accessible in a sort of emotional way to lots of people, like jazz” (Young pg. 187). She did this with her novel Song of Solomon both on and off of her television appearances on Oprah.
I think of a powerful scene in Song of Solomon, where the protagonist Milkman’s aunt, Pilate, a powerful and wonderful character, is about to die. Typical to a Morrison novel, Milkman says goodbye to Pilate through a song: “’Sing,’ she said. ‘Sing a little somethin for me.’ Milkman knew no songs…but he couldn’t ignore the urgency in her voice. Speaking the words without the least bit of a tune, he sang for the lady. ‘Sugargirl don’t leave me here/ Cotton balls to choke me/ Sugargirl don’t leave me here/ Buckra’s arms to yoke me’” (Morrison pg. 336).
The Reader’s Response
Morrison talks about her interaction as an author with her reader regarding this emotional scene in the novel: “A woman once got very angry with me because Pilate died. I told her that first, it was of no value to have Guitar kill someone nobody cared anything about. If that had been the case it would not show us how violent violence is. Some character that we care about had to be killed to demonstrate that” (An Interview pg. 420). Morrison tries to show us this in the scene following Pilate’s death: “Now he [Milkman] knew why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly. ‘There must be another one like you,’ he whispered to her. ‘There’s got to be at least one more woman like you’”(Morrison pg. 336).
What helps readers connect with the issues surrounding sorrow and death is her application of these themes from her real life. One such reader is Trudy Hamilton, a photographer and blogger. In a post about one of Morrison’s appearances on the Oprah show and her comments about death, Hamilton remarks, “the fact that Toni is so emotionally evolved to fully acknowledge sadness truly moves me. Here's the thing...nothing she said in [her] statement is "negative." The fact that she acknowledged what the pain feels like and realizes that this narrative is a part of her life story and in no way devalues her life or even her ability to do her work moved me to tears” (Hamilton par. 4).
What Morrison does, and what Trudy Hamilton is doing is using the digital media to reach a greater understanding and emotional connection to the literature and the author/reader relationship. Morrison is just one example of an author where readers all over the world are actively participating in blogs, forums, and other social media where they can discuss important plots or themes of her literature. We also see a growing popularity for authors to create blogs themselves and involve their readers in the writing process. One such writer wrote about this author/reader relationship on her blog: “thanks to technology, suddenly you can read your favorite author’s blog and leave comments on it or send her messages on Twitter and get replies. It’s amazing.” But there is something else that this author considers:
and yet it’s still such a unique relationship. One of my author friends once told me how inadequate she feels at book signings because readers already feel like they know her through her books and it’s almost like they want something intangible — some taste of what they found in the book and want to rediscover by meeting her. It’s sort of crazy and sort of awkward and sort of understandable, all at the same time (Mantyla par. 6)
The Digital Age Relationship
One web site acknowledged that this changing relationship is a job in and of itself, not like the author/relationship from years before. Pat Ferrara wrote: “An author’s website and blog have become full-time projects in and of themselves. While they may not be as entertaining as their next series installment, they put the time and effort to connect with you during the wait, take advantage of it” (Ferrara par. 5). While there are pros and cons to such an involved relationship between the author and the reader, I feel like the pros win out. Just as Ferrara points out, the modes that we have now in the digital age to connect with the author, and ultimately the work that they create, is a unique opportunity for us as readers.
It’s so exciting that an author is no longer “dead” to us as the readers. I think I can speak for many when I say that I love the background on the artist in helping me connect to a work of art. Forums, blogs, and on-line discussions all help readers connect on a new level to a piece of writing. For me as a researcher and web browser, I love being able to access a blog like Trudy Hamilton’s, where I can get other readers perspective and insight about an author or a work of literature. Whether it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner like Toni Morrison, or a beginning writer, the life of the author and his or her active contributions to a work of literature is what is perhaps to be most celebrated in this digital age.
Works Cited
“An Interview with Toni Morrison.” Toni Morrison and Nellie McKay Contemporary Literature. Vol. 24, No. 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 413-429 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1208128
Ferrara, Pat. “Book Buzz: The Author Reader Relationship.” 7 July 2008. Web source: Mania. http://www.mania.com/book-buzz-authorreader-relationship_article_58890.html
Hamilton, Trudy. “What Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison Reminded Me About Photography.” 14 May 2011. Web source: Tru Shots Photgraphy Blog: http://blog.trushots.com/2011/05/what-nobel-prize-winning-author-toni.html
Mantyla, Nikki. “The Author Reader Relationship.” 14 April 2010. Web source: All About the Words Blog. http://nikkimantyla.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/the-author–reader-relationship/
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. First Vintage International Edition, New York. 2004
“The Death of the Author.” 6 May 2011. Web source: Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_Author
Young, John. “Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, and Postmodern Popular Audiences.”African American Review Vol. 35, No. 2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 181-204. Published by: Indiana State University Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2903252
