Authorship

Structuralism's Critique of the Romantic Myth of the Author is aimed at the
Romantic concept of the author as a special individual possessed of unique
sensibilities and God-like powers of creation. The structuralist analysis of this
myth is an attempt to decompose - to separate into its component parts - the
Romantic image of the author. This act of decomposition enables structuralism to
demonstrate the construction of this myth and to suggest its implausability from a
perspective informed by structuralist theory. In the course of this analysis,
structuralism is able to suggest some of the functions of the myth within
literature as well as within contemporary Western culture.

This study investigates the dominant discourse of the failure of public education and the 'reform du jour' response ; and seeks ways school leaders could disrupt and transform to create possible alternate discourses for schools. This critical autoethnography included interviews, a focus group, document analysis and a research journal permitting participant research at the heart of a high school reading department. The data were synthesized in ways that made sense of power, practices, and culture allowing the personal to become valid data. ... This narrative illustrated the complexity of the emotional context and illustrated how school leadership discourse could turn the dialogue away from an economic and back to a teaching and learning relationship. The narrative aimed to give rise to a counter narrative, but found that the site of the high school reading department was currently too confused, too complex and too contradictory to establish any meaningful conclusions for its future that are not underpinned by extensive reforms designed to end its isolation.