The Implied Author Studies

Implied Author is an important concept in contemporary western literary criticism. As for theoretical research, it has aroused many scholars’academic interest and led to continuous study for several decades;as for literary practice, it is an indispensable term for literary criticism, which appears in articles in high frequency. But at the same time, IA is also a concept of many problems because of its lack of consensus on some critical issues like:the necessity of IA subject, its characteristic, position and function in literary works. This is obviously not commensurate with its importance in theory and practice. In this essay, we put IA into the background of20th century humanities to see the inevitability of its appearance. Then we explore its characteristics from the perspective of linguistic thoughts. The article is comprised of five chapters, firstly making a general survey of previous study on IA, then trying to elaborate the necessity and characteristics of IA from the perspective of the relationship of subject and symbol, and then giving further exploration of the concept from three aspects:IA and real author, IA and reader, IA and textual subjects.Chapter1makes a general exploration of previous studies on IA. Firstly, we look into Wayne Booth’s definition of IA and the background of his invention of the new concept. Secondly, we focus on the debate between proponents and opponents of IA. And finally, we see different opinions on the characteristics of IA on several aspects:the relationship between IA and real author, the function of IA in narrative communication, the characterization of IA, and the relationship between IA and the reader. Previous research on IA has made great achievement, but they also leave many problems.Chapter2focuses on the question of literary subject. In this section, we try to give a full knowledge about subjects in the process of literary communication in terms of the relationship between language and subjectivity. Benveniste’s thoughts on discourse and subject provide us a very useful theoretical frame for understanding the relationship between literary text and literary subject, and for defining IA. Simply speaking, IA is the Subject of Speech literary discourse. It is an indispensable subject and takes a critical position in literary communication. Chapter3investigates the relationship between IA and real author. Reflection on the function and status of author in literature was a trend of thought that has spread through literary study in early20th century, and finally led to the slogan "The Death of Author". This trend of thought was deeply and closely related to the reflection of subjectivity in philosophy. To say "The Death of Author" is not to eliminate author from literature, but to rethink the complexity of author in literature. The theory of "The Death of Author" opens up a space for IA. In fact, the traditional term "Author" consists of two different literary subjects:real author and implied author. We need an in-depth understanding of their relationships. They relate to each other, and also differ from each other.Chapter4explores the function of IA in the process of reader’s interpretation. What is the meaning of a literary work? How to catch the correct meaning? In which way can readers validly interpret a work? These are difficult problems in literature area. Generally, people appeal to three ways to guarantee the validity of interpretation. They are author’s intention, reader’s intention and textual intention. Considering these arguments, the essay holds that IA can guarantee the validity of interpretation. Because IA plays an important role in literary communication in three aspects:(1) guaranteeing the unity of texts and making them interpretable;(2) letting readers get into the work, so they can understand the work;(3) guaranteeing the coherence among different reader’s understanding.Chapter5expounds the relationship between IA and the subjects inside works. In literary works IA is always silent. But this doesn’t mean that IA has no voice. As the uniting power of a work, the voice of IA not only exists but also is the most important one among the different voices in the work. IA makes his voice in many different manners, such as, the paratextual information, overt comments, the discrepancy between different subjects, and through the words of narrators or characters. IA’s voice is the keynote of a work. Only through the media of IA can the information of ail the other subjects in the work, whether narrator or character, be set to readers. Additionally, in this section we explore the relationship between IA and narrator. This is the question of unreliable narration which has caused heated debate in past decades. The essay maintains that on the understanding of unreliable narration, there isn’t absolute opposition between rhetorical method and cognitive method. Their cooperation will provide a better understanding on the unreliable narration in narratives. Following the debates on IA, the essay tries to deepen the IA study and comes to some new ideas about the problem:(1) expanding the theoretical scope on IA research;(2) making some new definitions of IA from the point of view of symbolic communication;(3) deepening the understanding of "The Death of Author" theory;(4) explicating the relevance of IA to literary interpretation;(5) providing some methods for identifying IA’s voice.