The Death of the Author is a literary criticism notion from the mid-twentieth century that states that an author's goals and biographical data (the author's politics, religion, etc.) should not be given special weight in choosing an interpretation of their literature. Rather, the work itself should be the only source of information about the author. After the author's death, more information comes to light about them, including personal details such as their age, where and when they lived, what political views they held, etc. This additional information allows us to interpret their work in light of who they were. Criticism aims to explain or characterize aspects of the work through analysis of its creator's life and times. The goal is to understand the author's intentions for their work and apply these to future works by similar authors. Criticism has two main forms: biography and interpretation. Biography is the study of an author's life with the aim of understanding their creativity. Interpretation focuses on the text alone and seeks to determine its meaning or message. Biographers may also seek to analyze an author's influences on their work, which are other writers whose ideas have shaped or motivated the author. Critical essays are written by scholars who have studied the lives and works of many authors in order to choose those who best fit certain criteria.