The meanings imbued in a text do not belong to the author; they are universal human meanings. Authors are therefore not as omniscient as readers often imagine them to be. Coincidental with the "death of the author," then is the "birth of the reader." Readers are empowered by critical understandings of text that acknowledge an author's fallibility and bias. Authors are assumed to have authority. Foucault suggested that the author as a powerful figure is a historical construction. The role and the idea of the author varies from situation to situation but also varies across different cultures and across time. Foucault also pointed out that ancient manuscripts were often circulated without authorial attributions. The author as a powerful entity matters most in societies in which the law protects intellectual property. In other words, authorship is bound up with historical and social as well as economic constructs. Readers may also feel comforted when reading a text that can be placed squarely...

Each of these disciplines offer insight into literature and into the role of the author. Ironically the focus on non-white and female authors marks a return to a patriarchal model of authorship. Literary analysts should avoid reading too much of the author's life into a text; although authors are undoubtedly influenced by their particular values, beliefs, and life circumstances, their work should be approached as if the author were in fact a ghost. The "death of the author" suggests that literary texts can be deconstructed without necessarily involving the author's biography. A text is bigger than the person who wrote it. If the author is dead, the work of literature is immortal.