What is an “author”—as described by Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault—and what is the controversy surrounding “the death of the author”? Along with discussing these, engage the idea of “authorship” in Buddhist communities.

The death of the author

The themes of authors, author-functions, and audiences have been pivotal for the last part of the class. What is an “author”—as described by Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault—and what is the controversy surrounding “the death of the author”? Along with discussing these, engage the idea of “authorship” in Buddhist communities. For this, you might draw on Sara McClintock’s discussions of the Buddha’s omniscience in Omniscience and the Rhetoric of Reason, or her discussion of Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla in that same text. You might also discuss Schaeffer’s treatment of Saraha as an author