First, and most obviously, there is the human being who wrote the text. Second, we have an imagined “author” to whom we attribute intent and purpose in our attempt to understand a text. Finally, each and every reader is “author” of his or her own understanding of any given text.

Each of these personas has implications for reading. More to the point, each has implications for misreading a text, especially when critical reading is desired.

THE HUMAN AUTHOR

When author and audience are known to each other -- as with speech -- the model holds fairly well. In such circumstances, however, communication takes place within a social context, not simply on the page.

Texts present a different situation. While prior knowledge of an author can aid understanding of a text, it can just as likely lead to misreading. Any assumptions about the meaning of a text based on an author's prior texts is at best speculative, and at worst denies that author the ability to express new ideas.

Questions about the real author and his or her purpose in writing a particular text can be answered only by talking with the living author. Even then we cannot be entirely sure what an author truly intended. An author might not be forthcoming about, or even aware of, his or her real purpose. And whatever the author's intentions, he or she may not have successfully communicated an intended meaning within the text.

THE IMAGINED AUTHOR

Writing is a purposeful act of human communication, and so it is a useful heuristic, if nothing else, to imagine an author behind a text. But here again there are inherent dangers.

When we imagine purpose or intent we risk risks letting our imagination go beyond the evidence within the text itself. If our notion of a “virtual” author is based on textual evidence, why not simply refer to the evidence itself? The goal should not be to imagine the intention of someone who is not present, but to make as best sense as we can of the words upon the page and in so doing to recognize techniques for conveying information and ideas that we might employ in our own writing.

Ultimately, any focus on an interpersonal communication between an author and reader leads to assumptions and speculation about motive and intent. Above all, it draws the interpretive effort away from the text itself.

THE READER AS AUTHOR

Critical readers take possession of a text in two ways—both involving recognition of the nature of the material before them.

First, critical readers go beyond recognizing “what a text says” to seeing “what a text does,” to recognizing and describing the text as a document and tracing the development and support of ideas. Secondly, critical readers recognize and classify the nature of the ingredients of the text. This occurs primarily in recognizing 1) what the examples are examples of and 2) how the nature of the terminology present shapes perceptions and understanding.

Consider an example: (from Jean Dresden Grambs's Women over Forty:Visions and Realities, rev. ed., 1989)

The changing status of women has been one of the most dramatic of the social upheavals of the second half of the 20th century. Women are entering the labor force earlier and remaining at work for more years, even if they have young children. More women are divorced and heading their own households. More women are going to college, obtaining professional and advanced degrees, and seeking careers in law, medicine, and business.

The changing status of women has been one of the most dramatic of the social upheavals of the second half of the 20th century. Women are entering the labor force earlier and remaining at work for more years, even if they have young children. More women are divorced and heading their own households.More women are experiencing bankruptcies, often from the loss of health insurance following divorce.