'Author is a Modern Figure' Ronald Barthes

Regarding the origin of the author Ronald Barthes says that the author is the product of Modern Ages. To Barthes, the things that contributed to the emergence of the author include English Imperialism, French Rationalism and the personal faith of the Reformation. Now the author connotes authority or the prestige of an individual. Thus, Barthes finds the authority of the author in all branches of literature such as history of literature, biographies of writers, interviews, magazines etc. The image of any of this braches of literature is tyrannically centered on the author, his person, his life, his taste and his passions. So, by this comment Barthes wants to remind us about the position of author in modern literature and also subverts the relations of an author with his text.