Montaigne and Barthes on authorship, death, and cultural difference

¶ … Cannibals" is especially interesting when considering its content in the context of Roland Barthes' essay "Death of the Author." The former's description of individuals in the New World and his tendency to portray these respective people as being completely different from Europeans is actually meant to emphasize how he is certain that it is difficult and almost impossible for an outsider to understand them. Montaigne appears to detach himself from his texts in order to make it possible for readers to understand the exact message that his texts are meant to put across. The simple fact that he describes individuals in the New World as a community that has nothing to do with Europeans demonstrates that he was determined to enable readers to make the difference between his persona and his text.

The very title of Montaigne's essay is probably meant to send readers on a wrong path, as he appears to intend to have these people believe that they are going to learn important information on cannibals when he actually wants to emphasize how little society knows about communities on the American continent. "Now, to return to my argument, I do not believe, from what I have been told about these people, that there is anything barbarous or savage about them, except that we all call barbarous anything that is in contrary to our own habit." (Montaigne 108)

Montaigne was one of the most representative members of a society that had just started an Age of Reason and that was determined to promote values related to civilization. As a consequence, by addressing his text from a perspective involving him as this respective notable member of a modern society, one is likely to have trouble actually comprehending the text.

It would certainly be absurd to claim that one should ignore Montaigne when reading his text. Even with this, while it is also important to criticize a work by also considering its author, one should concentrate on the work itself rather on the person who created it. According to Barthes (p. 143), many writers attempt to detach themselves as much as possible from their works in order to provide readers with the chance to get actively involved in interpreting them by themselves.

Montaigne's tendency to display his 'cannibals' as a peaceful society in which individuals feel happy with their duties and are unhesitant about promoting their cultural values is truly impressive. The French writer concentrates on actually criticizing European behaviors through his essay. Even with the fact that one would expect that it would be natural for him to emphasize the greatness of Europe when compared with the New World, he does the opposite by relating to how beautiful life on the American continent can be.

Elements characteristic to "Death of the Author" can be observed throughout Montaigne's text, taking into account that he seems determined to have his readers realize how different he and the rest of Europe is from individuals on the American continent. "Indeed we seem to have no other criterion of truth and reason than the type and kind of opinions and customs current in the land where we live." (Montaigne 109) He does not only seem interested in wanting to criticize values promoted throughout the presumably civilized world, as he also seems to criticize his own thinking as a result of being part of the European society.

One can go as far as to approve Barthes' reasoning concerning how a successful writer who wants to avoid corrupting his story by introducing his personal beliefs needs to do everything in his power in order to write without actually getting involved. Simply allowing the hand to write as fast as possible ideas that the head is unable to process can be considered an essential element in Montaigne's text (144). To a certain degree, it is only safe to say that he criticizes his own writing style, his thinking, and his background as a whole. This is a person who understands that it would be wrong to promote European cultural values at the expense of American cultural values and thus refrains from even addressing the former.