Different "author functions", maybe. IIRC that's Roland Barthes.
My favourite cranky author theory is Harold Bloom's, that suggests
that the bits of the Pentateuch where the Almighty is being an
especially insufferable shit are the work of a female author who is
indulging her creator/creation as if he were a mischievous boy child.
"They kill us for their sport", etc.
Dominic
On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 15:35:01 -0000, Robin Hamilton
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Don't be filthy Robin.
>
> <g>
>
> > My point was, and is, (a) where the hell do you come from making a
> > pronouncement like that,
>
> Just done a quick google and refreshed my memory -- it was Samuel Butler who
> first suggested this. And then there's Robert Graves. To be honest, I
> think that's probably the lot (or at least all I know about -- I stopped the
> google search when I hit Butler and my memory clicked).
>
> > and (b) does it matter anyway?
>
> Well, I think it would be interesting to know, but I'd agree that in any
> fundamental sense it doesn't matter.
>
> I think more important is the sense that the Illiad and the Odyssey have
> different authors. Or something, perhaps there's a better way of putting
> this than in terms of "the author".
>
> Robin
>
--
// Alas, this comparison function can't be total:
// bottom is beyond comparison. - Oleg Kiselyov
|