Hello!
Starting my first topic on this forum as I started on the Episode forums, in other words, controversially, I’d like to know your thoughts on “Death of the Author”. Specifically when it comes to the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K.Rowling, who very often comes up in these discussions.
In Shannii’s article (link above), she explains and discusses what “death of the author” is, what it does, and her opinions on readers “killing the author” in various ways and for various reasons, particularily J.K.Rowling. There has been a big controversy since Shannii wrote her article however, and it is, to put it mildly… that J.K.Rowling has proved herself to be a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) on Twitter. Using her wealth and platform to support causes that go against advocating for rights for trans women and enabling her audience who might not know much about trans people to believe what she believes. The video below by writer and video-essayist Lindsay Ellis echoes my personal thoughts on this issue perfectly so I don’t feel the need to add them here.
So I was curious to know what the people on this forum think about this:
Any general thoughts on “death of the author”?
Do you separate the author from their work? In other words, will you support an author’s work despite their morals not aligning with yours or their unethical actions?
Have you even partaken in “death of the author”?
Are you a Harry Potter fan? What does J.K.Rowling’s work represent for you?
If, like in the case of J.K.Rowling, your support of their work helped them get wealthier and more influential, enabling them to use that to cause harm to an oppressed group of people… would you still support their work? Are you willing to let go of Harry Potter, a work that, as I’m aware, means a lot to many people who grew up with it, including you potentially?
This is, of course, a discussion without any judgement. I understand that Harry Potter means a lot to an incredible amount of people and that letting it go is not easy. Please be empathetic and respectful in the replies and I thank you in advance for taking the time to share your opinions!
Here’s another video by Lindsay Ellis about Death of the Author in general if you’d like to know more about the topic:
Looking through the tags and their descriptions could help get you more familiar with the use of tags. Mind you you only can tag a group once a day to prevent spam notifications.
So, I’ll just say here again what I’ve already said on the thread to discuss Shannii’s blog post.
I hardly ever know anything about the authors of the books that I read, but when I’m confused about something in the book, I search for what the author has said about it, not the fans.
For me, this depends a lot on many factors. If the author of my favourite books has morals that I don’t agree with, it wouldn’t change much for me. I already bought those books and I hardly ever recommend them to others anyway. But if there’s a book that I’m interested in but I don’t own it yet and then the author does or says something that I strongly disagree with, I probably wouldn’t buy the book. On the other hand, if it’s just a different opinion that isn’t too bad, I wouldn’t care. Everybody can have different opinions than I have, it just depends on how unethical I think the author acts.
So e.g. with Harry Potter, I’ve never read it. Seeing all those things about J.K. Rowling just made me want to read it even less. I might borrow the book from a friend one day, but it’s less likely to get on my reading list anytime soon. If I had already read the book and enjoyed it, I’d probably just try to support Rowling less. And maybe if I start having discussions about the book, I’d add that I don’t agree with her views.
But in all honesty, I don’t even know the author’s name of most books that I read So most of the time I wouldn’t even notice when they do something I don’t agree with.
and please excuse all typos because I’m on my phone and bored
Thank you for your input, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who isn’t a Harry Potter fan here since the series is so beloved by many. So we have a similar perspective. It’s pretty easy for us to “let go”, or more accurately in our case, not support Rowling since we were never really attached to her works in the first place.
Also, no need to apologize, we’re all out here just trynna function
So most of the time I wouldn’t even notice when they do something I don’t agree with.
