Fiction by fictitious writers

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7917.2014v19n2p9

The author has been an object of study ever since his existence was acknowledged. In time, his role in society and in the production of the literary text have been treated differently. In the second half of the 20th century, his death was considered a necessary step for the text to open up to different meanings constructed by the reader. Even though the notion of authorship never disappeared, in contemporary literature we can notice the presence of the author in the text in the role of authors-characters. Among the different ways this presence can be seen, we can highlight two that share the fictitious nature, but follow highly distinct paths throughout the text: Eckerman, in Le Coeur de Marguerite (1999), by Vassilis Alexakis, and Émile Ajar, in Pseudo (1976), by Romain Gary. Changed into an element of fiction, the author acquires new meanings and sheds new light on the discussion about the author.