Death as a metaphor : Friedrich Nietzsche, roland barthes and Alvin Kernan

Abstract EN

This paper explores the interconnections between Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Roland Barthes (1915-1980), and Alvin Kernan (1923-2018) regarding the metaphor of death.

Although the death of God, the death of the author, and the death of literature may seem disparate concepts, they are actually very closely related.

They move in a linear trajectory that seems to be chronological.

Madness, and perhaps insight, may be underlying the thoughts of these three critical thinkers.

This is what is uncovered through analyses of their relevant texts: various works by Nietzsche, “The Death of the Author” (1968) by Barthes and The Death of Literature (1990) by Kernan.

The death of God foreshadows the death of the author as the former overthrows the olute Author with all His Authority in the universe, paving the way for overthrowing the authority of the author over his literary text.

Both the death of God and the death of the author are the deconstructive backdrops of the death of literature at the hands of post-modernism, mass media and mass culture.