The Funky Monk and the Myth of the Solitary Author: John Frusciante and the Meaning of Authorship

Abstract

John Frusciante, both a solo artist and a member of one of the most successful rock bands of the last few decades, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, has struggled throughout his career with defining himself as a collaborator and a solo artist. The contradictions that arise within these struggles suggest quite a few things about authorship in general. With the concept of the author still fighting its way out of the midst of an engaging academic dispute, and with Frusciante’s recent departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this examination addresses prevalent and pressing issues of what it means to be an author and a collaborator, and whether or not the myth of the solitary genius is in fact a myth or an elusive but real possibility.

Keywords

• Stillinger
• Barthes
• Frusciante
• authorship
• collaboration
• co-writing