I take umbrage with the term "author"
March 3, 2009
Yesterday, during a telephone conversation, the person on the end of the line said that I was a critically acclaimed author. It stopped me. Technically speaking, this is true. I have a couple books that have been very well received by the critics, and sold reasonably well. One of them even won a couple awards. One was named top 100 Globe & Mail. I don’t deny any of this. And I’m honoured to be in engaged in the world of writing books, and poems, and stories. My on-line dictionary defines “author” the following way: 1. a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist. 2. the literary production or productions of a writer: to find a passage in an author. 3. the maker of anything; creator; originator: the author of a new tax plan.
So, technically, I am an author. But I don’t feel like an author. To me, the term “author” removes the writer from the people he/she writes for. It’s a term that creates distance. Is the common understanding that a writer writes, and an author is a writer who has published? There’s a certain snootiness to the term “author” that I do not understand, but I don’t want anything to do with. Are authors writers who work in universities and write for academics – they write for an audience that doesn’t understand and never will understand what it is they’re writing. We have some theories about her writing but isn’t it brilliant!!!! (Okay, okay, some of my favourite writers work in universities so maybe this is not a good argument –Tobias Wolff, Michael Ondaatje, Bert Almon, Thomas Wharton, Aritha van Herk). So, I’m stuck. I don’t know what it is about the term “author” that bothers me. But for the record, I’m a writer. I’m interested in communicating, engaging readers. When I sit down to write, I am engaged in a journey of discovery and I want my readers to experience the same – I want readers to come along for the ride. Perhaps, as my friend Harding says: Author is a title, writer is an occupation.
"Waiting for Columbus" will have a Canadian cover. I'm thrilled by this news. Oh, maybe it's the patriot in me but I walked a bit taller knowing this -- sat up straight and smiled.
14 Comments
1. Patrick had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 10:24 ~ #
Duly noted good sir. Your designation has been changed on the pilarski.ca links page ;) Glad to hear about the Canadian cover too; can’t wait to see it!
2. thomas had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 10:30 ~ #
Ha, This is more a thing that I am curious about, than something that offends. You can call me what ever you’d like…. I know. It’ cool about a distinct, Canadian edition of “Waiting for Columbus.” The book will be slimmer, smaller in dimension that the US edition — and so, probably more pages.
3. Adam Snider had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 13:06 ~ #
In my mind, the term “author” implies authority on the subject one is writing about. In a sense, then, this term can never be applied to fiction writers (at least those of a literary bent). Who, after all, can ever claim to be an authority on matters of the very human things that literary writers explore? Can we ever say that we are authorities on topics such as love, pain, longing, etc.?
The flip-side of the coin, of course, is that the mere fact that writers are human makes them authorities on those same things. It’s a matter of perspective, I suppose. Personally, I prefer the term “writer” to the term “author.” Mainly because I don’t think I’m an authority on much of anything.
4. thomas had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 13:18 ~ #
Well, we are brothers in Not Being an Authority on anything but the human condition, then. And of course a strong leaning toward singl malts, and the occasional cigar.
If that isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.
5. D. had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 14:30 ~ #
Well I like to see as this:
A writer is an individual who sets out to find an audience to interpret their art and showcase their talent.
An author is someone who is recognizable and people readily invite them into their homes to express their ideas and art.
6. thomas had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 14:37 ~ #
Okay D., that’s an interesting take on this. That’s a clear line between “writer” and “author.”
I just had a laugh because if you look on my website’s front porch, there is a topic that reads: “About the Author”!!!!! Oh my God!!! But, there is a fictitious biography, sprkinkled with fact, and truth and outright lies on that page too, so, perhaps I can be forgiven?
7. Mike Gravel had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 15:07 ~ #
From your about page:
“I steer clear of definitions. I don’t know what I want. I am inconsistent, non-committal, passive: I like the indefinite, the boundless; I like continual uncertainty. Other qualities may be conducive to achievement, publicity, success; but they are all outworn – as outworn as ideologies, opinions, concepts, and names of things.”
- Gerhard Richter
8. thomas had this to say: Mar 03, 2009 ~ 15:43 ~ #
Thank you….. Thank you.
I am a morass of contradiction!!!! I so love that quote.
9. arrbecca had this to say: Mar 06, 2009 ~ 21:05 ~ #
Can you be a writer who has authored books?
I just finished W for C and even though I mostly knew what was coming, I’m incredibly sad. A good sad, but still, sad.
10. Elena Ray had this to say: Mar 11, 2009 ~ 07:03 ~ #
Author implies ownership. I am the author of my images (which are “copy“righted in my name). Some people are the authors of their own destruction. I think you can fill the boots of the author title. It’s okay to wear the entitlements if you take them off at night before getting into bed. You’re beautiful in them anyhow. Let us enjoy having someone to celebrate.
11. Pamela Mordecai had this to say: Mar 12, 2009 ~ 20:07 ~ #
As far as definitions go, I’m with Mike Gravel on the quote from your about page… But where words come from is always a useful story…
From the Online Etymological Dictionary:
c.1300, autor “father,” from O.Fr. auctor, from L. auctorem (nom. auctor) “enlarger, founder,” lit. “one who causes to grow,” agent noun from augere “to increase” (see augment). Meaning “one who sets forth written statements” is from c.1380. TheThat, plus a lovely quote from Kafka…
“...[W]riting means revealing onesself to excess …. This is why one can never be alone enough when one writes, why even night is not night enough. BIG SNIP And how I would write! From what depths I would drag it up!” [Franz Kafka]12. thomas had this to say: Mar 13, 2009 ~ 11:31 ~ #
Just back from Mexico. Last night at midnight.
I miss the palm trees in the sea breeze already. It was wonderful to be always warm for an entire week!
Arrbecca, I’m sorry you knew what was coming in Waiting for Columbus. You must work at Random House…or how did you get a copy?
Elena, I worry about “ownership.” Once completed, and delivered to an audience, do I own the reader’s experience of the book? Or just the vehicle? But yes, I will certainly take off any entitlements before bed.
Pamela, Thank you for the Kafka quote….Wonderful quote: “This is why one can never be alone enough when one writes, why even night is not night enough.” Oh my GOD can I ever relate to this one!!!!!