The Implied Author: Concept and Controversy

by Tom Kindt, Hans-Harald Muller

Overview

This book addresses itself to the concept of the implied author, which has been the cause of controversy in cultural studies for some fifty years. The opening chapters examine the introduction of the concept in Wayne C. Booth’s "Rhetoric of Fiction” and the discussion of the concept in narratology and in the theory and practice of interpretation.The final chapter develops proposals for clarifying or replacing the concept.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110201727
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Series:	Narratologia Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Tom Kindt, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany; Hans-Harald Müller, University of Hamburg, Germany.

Table of Contents

Introduction: History of Criticism and the History of a Concept     1
Reconstructing the Concept's History
Poetics, Rhetoric, and Ethics: The Origins of the Implied Author Concept     17
The Chicago School of Criticism
The Critical Turn in the Academic Study of Literature in North America     18
The Chicago Critics: Pluralism and Aristotelianism     22
The Legacy of the Chicago School     36
Wayne C. Booth and the Implied Author Concept
Booth's Combined Ethical and Rhetorical Approach to Literary Texts     42
The Implied Author and The Rhetoric of Fiction     46
The Implied Author after The Rhetoric of Fiction     56
Between Interpretation Theory and Narratology: The Reception of the Implied Author Concept     63
The Implied Author in Relation to Interpretation Theory
The Reviews of The Rhetoric of Fiction     69
The Implied Author as the Key Concept in a Theory of Interpretation     74
The Implied Author in Relation to Interpretation and Description
Reception of the Concept in the Wake of Structuralism     84
The Implied Author in Relation to Interpretation in Practice     86
The Implied Author in Relation to Description     104
The Model Author and Other Author Models: Alternative Concepts to the Implied Author     121
Umberto Eco's Model Author     123
Wolf Schmid's Abstract Author     130
Wolfgang Iser's Implied Reader     136
The Apparent Artist, the Fictional Author, and the Postulated Author     143
Explicating the Concept
Exit IA? Possibilities for Explicating the Implied Author     151
The Implied Author as a Phenomenon of Reception     152
The Implied Author as a Participant in Communication     155
The Implied Author as a Postulated Subject Behind the Text     158
Explicating the Concept in the Context of a Non-Intentionalistic Theory of Interpretation     162
Explicating the Concept in the Context of an Intentionalistic Theory of Interpretation     167
Abbreviations     183
Works Cited     185
Acknowledgements     225

Editorial Reviews

"Über die Verdienst um den Begriff des „implied author‟ hinaus zählt es daher zu den Vorzügen der vorliegenden Studie, daß sie zu weiterführenden Überlegungen im Rahmen der Autor-Debatte anregt. [...] Dem hohen Anspruch an das historische Wissen über sein Fach und an die Reflekiertheit der eigenen Positionen wird man sich von nun an immer stellen müssen."
Alice Stasková in: Arbitrium 3/2008

"Die übersichtlich disponierte und schlüssig argumentierende Monographie von Kindt und Müller zeugt von den glänzenden Aussichten, die einer erneuerten Begriffsgeschichte im Rahmen eines Explikationsprogramms heute offen stehen."
Carlos Spoerhase in: Zeitschrift für Germanistik 3/2007

From the Publisher