Abstract

This article provides a short introduction to Friedrich Kittler's 1980 essay 'Authorship and Love' by showing how it fits into the development of Kittler's thought. The stark contrast between superficially similar scenes in Goethe's Werther and Dante's Divine Comedy, each of which is said to represent fundamentally different conceptualizations of authorship and love, is a revealing instance of Kittler's distinctive and polemical appropriation of French post-structuralism as well as of his subsequent switch from discourse analysis to media theory. Ultimately, 'Authorship and Love' even points ahead to Kittler's final work on music and mimesis in ancient Greece.

Links and resources

Tags