ABSTRACT
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and historian. "What is an Author?" is an essay that suggests a new way of looking at the place of the author in relation to the meaning of texts. For Foucault, texts, authors, and the idea of the author are closely related to the way power circulates in societies —or more simply, how societies exert control on human beings. "What is an Author?" matters for two overriding reasons: as an introduction to a key issue in literary theory, and as an introduction to Michel Foucault's work and thought in general. Foucault is without a doubt one of the most significant and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. His critiques of how power functions in society have informed political movements across the world, particularly among feminist and LBGTQ movements. His work has also had a transformative impact across the fields of humanities and social sciences.
