Authorship and auteurism in Another Country

Abstract

In 1873 Benjamin Disraeli could bemoan, "[a]n author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children." Today, however, authorship is a consumable that demands endless promoting in order to be profitable. The ironic predicament of the author within contemporary (technocratic) culture is his frequent invisibility. Another Country is an apposite vehicle for raising the quandary of contemporary authorship since it is first, a music video and thus a promotional tool itself and second, an authorial collaboration between musical artists Mango Groove and "fine artist" William Kentridge.