The concept of the author within a text is a complex one, and has been interpreted in many ways by various critics, including Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault in their workings "Death Of The Author" and "What is an Author?" respectively. Until recently, an author was a simple concept; an author was someone who wrote a book. However, Roland Barthes' essay, "The Death of Author," regarded as a landmark in critical analysis, proposes that an author is not simply a "person" as often suggested, but a "socially and historically constituted subject". .
Barthes" essay was written as an attack upon his contemporaries. It questions the author's role with regard to a text, suggesting the role of an author as a person who loses himself and his identity in the creation of his text. He then defines the author as someone who takes responsibility for this text and helps to shape its meaning. This definition is supported in its views by Foucault, in his essay "What is an Author". The view expressed by both Barthes and Foucault is in my opinion, a valid one. Surely it is impossible for an author to write an essay or work of fiction without letting his personal viewpoints and opinions influence his account. Taking the example of Joseph Conrad and his text "Heart of Darkness", it cannot be queried that this novel came about, or was at least influenced, through Conrad's personal experience during trip to "Stanley Falls" in "68. This place, he described as "the blankest of blank spaces on the earths figured surface" . Leading us to assume that even the title alone was influenced by his trip. Also it has been suggested by a number of critics, such as Chinua Achebe, that Conrad's personal views on racism are revealed throughout the text, voiced by the character of Marlow, "Marlow seems to me to enjoy Conrad's complete confidence- . The vivid description of the "savages" within the text, are a crucial factor within the novel, and help to shape the thoughts and images as seen by the reader.