![\"Barthes,](\"http:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/assets\/uploads\/2016\/08\/barthes_e_eyecatch.jpg\")
Barthes, R. (1968). The Death of the Author. (R. Howard, trans.). [online] The Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. Available at: http:\/\/writing.upenn.edu\/~taransky\/Barthes.pdf [Accessed 2 Aug. 2016].<\/p><\/div>It has been more than half a century since the French literary critic and theorist, Roland Barthes, presented the essay \u201cThe Death of the Author\u201d (1968). This literary theory, which places emphasis on the text and its readers while removing the author\u2019s personal context, influenced the study of literature, especially modern literature.<\/p>\n
To question the concept of present-day authorship and author function, scholars must reconsider how cultural texts have been created and recreated under dynamic circumstances of both the agent of cultural production and the recipient\u2019s varying affiliated organizations, network media, and social environment. They must also examine reciprocal relationships among ranging genres and media (manuscripts, calligraphy, woodblock, typography, paintings, sculpture, architecture, performing arts, music, theater, photography, film, manga, animation, digital text, internet social media, etc.) and compare authorship in Japan to those of ancient to modern East Asia as well as Western counterparts.<\/p>\n
As a step to reestablish the foundation of literature and humanities research and expand investigation on the past, present, and future of cultural production and its consumption, the Global Japanese Studies model unit of Waseda University Top Global University Project<\/a>, the Ryusaku Tsunoda Center of Japanese Culture and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University co-hosted the Global Japanese Studies International Symposium \u201cRethinking the as an Agent of Cultural Production\u201d on July 26. Over 100 researchers, faculty members, students and others attended the symposium, which started with opening remarks from the model unit leader of the Global Japanese Studies, Professor Hirokazu Toeda of Waseda University<\/a>, and Professor Tomi Suzuki of Columbia University.<\/p>\n
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