Are You a Writer, or an Author? Part II

Literary theorist Roland Barthes said of the difference between an author and a writer, "The former performs a function; the latter an activity."

What is an author's "function"? To go on lecture tours, like Mark Twain? To be on Today? To appear at signings and banquets? To inspire writers who aren't at the touring/Today Show level yet? Twain , the most famous touring author, wrote (1896):

I got horribly tired of the platform toward the last -- tired of the slavery of it; tired of having to rest-up for it; diet myself for it; take everlasting care of my body and my mind for it; deny myself in a thousand ways in its interest.

Seems that without actively writing, an author is decorative -- they do call it "an appearance" -- or at best a pawn in his own money-making game.

And doesn't a writer have a function as well as an activity? Like, to stir people's minds? To entertain them? To educate? To stand for something?

Those literary theorists...I'm sure Barthes explains his statement well and in depth, but I read more than enough theory in the 1980s, before we all found out that literary theory ("literature means nothing") was the brainchild of a former Nazi collaborationist, Paul de Man, who in the rest of his lifetime neglected to mention that rather telling fact.

Mark Twain/Mississippi-Themed Poetry or Prose

Chesterfield (MO) Arts seeks poets and prose writers to enter its writing contest. Deadline is April 16. Adults (over age 26) and youth (ages 16-25) can submit poetry or prose about Mark Twain, his fictional characters, the Mississippi Valley region. . . details are here. Entry fee $15.

Recently I judged an essay contest with a similar theme, run by a different organization. Only eight writers entered. After thinking about it, I think the theme is too well-worn to appeal to literary writers -- What HASN'T been written about Mark Twain and his world? And why bother to lift a pen when HIS writings are still the best? -- and casual or student writers wouldn't lift a pen if they had to read stuff before they wrote stuff. But let's hope I'm way off base and that you have written some literature that has just been waiting for its chance to shine.