“There was a time when literary texts did not require an author to validate their truthfulness as opposed to scientific texts. In other words, the author's name validated the authenticity of scientific texts dealing with mathematics, medicine, or illness. But moving forward in time, scientific texts increasingly began to be accepted on their own merit, without references to authorship. And with the same transition in time, literary texts began to redeem their worth based on the author who wrote it, the contextual time and place and historical circumstances. Raising questions about the meaning of text when the author was no longer found - was dead - the author’s privileges had been debunked, and texts soon started producing meaning instead of forming them to the author’s wishes/intentions. This gave way to opportunities of multiplicity of meanings. Meaning is always more slippery than the intended prescription of it."

         -- Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux, The Theory Toolbox