Author. Authorial persona. Book. It's getting harder to tell them apart.

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Janet/Robin's post on authorial intrusion into the text generated a very lively discussion. I was a little surprised, though, that one point of Robin's was not picked up more: her careful distinction between the author as a person and the authorial persona. Perhaps this is because we have conditioned ourselves not to read disclaimers:

Obligatory Disclaimer: When I refer to the "author," I'm not referring to the person who goes grocery shopping and takes care of her kids, etc. That is, I...