First, let me attempt to reconstruct a twitter conversation for you.

Cuchlann  The writer of a work may be dead, but as the work implies a reader, so, too, must it imply an author.

lelangir@cuchlann not always. what about “the word”? street anecdotes ‘n such.

lelangir@cuchlann well then I guess it doesn’t count as “a work” in the institutionalized sense.

Cuchlann @lelangir no, it still implies an author. It had to come from somewhere.

lelangir@cuchlann can’t you just fabricate something? “he said that”, where “he” isn’t really anybody. who’s the author there?

Cuchlann @lelangir what is said still implies an author different from another. Also, it’s theoretically better: it’s either that or a null.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to literary studies lately.  I finished my MFA thesis (and thus, if no surprises are waiting for me in the wings, I am finished and have an MFA); with the thesis out of the way, I was free to start worrying about my dissertation years before anyone would expect me to.  So I’m reading for it now.  Woo.  

Anyway.  The reading, the conversations, the free time, they’ve all come together to lead me to a new perspective on this thing we do.  The preceding conversation is simply an outgrowth of that.  I was once described by Daniel as someone who gets the “dead author thing,” and I believe I still do.  I just have a new perspective on it, and some other things.