From Rhetorics to Sociology: Authorship Figures in Contemporary Narratology
From Rhetorics to Sociology: Authorship Figures in Contemporary Narratology
Theoretically speaking, authorship has (almost always) been excluded from narrative studies, although practical literary criticism never ceased in utsing this category. It is a well-known fact that Wayne C. Booth invented the term “implied authorship” in his 1961 study called “The Rhetoric of Fiction”. Although the concept survived through several heated debates, it is, alas, no longer useful in analyzing literary texts. The present article shows that the only viable solution for narratology to further examine authorship issues is represented by the adoption of a couple of instruments (posture and ethos) from the new French sociology of literary production. Moreover, the study will also explain why the current status of creative subjects could be described through the metaphor of “the ascension of authorship”.
Keywords: authorship, implied author, Wayne C. Booth, Jérôme Meizoz, Bernard Lahire, Nathalie Heinich, posture, ethos, Liesbeth Korthals Altes, Paul Dawson, narratology, the ascension of authorship.
