Knowledge of an authors background enhance the meaning of a text

“For many years literary critics have claimed that it is not the author but the work that is important and for a reader to fully understand a text they must distance themselves from the author¹.” However writing is traditionally considered a reflection of self and therefore knowledge of a writers life can add meaning and insight to a text. Writing and particularly styles of writing have transformed over many years mainly to reflect society’s beliefs and values and it is because of this, readers can gain understanding by having a basic knowledge of the era and the author. So to say that the authors background is of no significance in understanding their work is in my view in correct.


In July 1942 Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi persecution, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse. Anne at the time is thirteen when the family goes into the secret annex and over the next two years she vividly describes in her diary the frustrations of living in such c...