Death of an author : Sarah Kane and the significance of biography

Abstract

This thesis revolves around the issue of how an author's biography contributes to the reception of the work, and how the reception is often drastically influenced on how much the reader knows about the author. This is especially the case if the author was or is suffering from mental illness or committed suicide. Works of authors who have committed suicide are doubtlessly more scrutinized than those who did not. I relate this topic to the late British playwright Sarah Kane, who suffered from depression during periods of her life and later hung herself in the lavatory of the hospital she was admitted to. Her work clearly shows evidence of her difficult life, as I emphasis on in my individual interpretations of three of her plays: Cleansed, Crave and 4.48 Psychosis. While Kane was eager to have her plays read separate from her life, she also made statements in the media which directly connected them to her life. This way, the confusion around her person and her myth was enhanced. I also draw lines to Sylvia Plath, whose work is also often interpreted in light of her illness and suicide. The fact that an author's life is reflected in his or her work, however, is something few authors willingly admit to. Although it might be the case, few will risk having their work lose its artisitic value by admitting any clear correspondence between life and work. This thesis, while mainly concerning Sarah Kane, also pose a question of how wrong it is to connect author's lives with their work, and if denying this connection does not also make life inferior to Art.