"All Authors Should Be Objective" by Wayne Boothe - Chapter Summary

Booth, Wayne C. "Chapter III: All Authors Should be Objective." The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1961. Print.

In the 20^th century, the consensus has been for authors to be objective. Objectivity is characterized by neutrality, impartiality, and impassibilité.

Neutrality and the Author’s Second Self

Neutrality in an author means adopting the same attitude towards all values, good and evil. It is however impossible for an author to remain entirely neutral in his writing. Instead, the author should remain neutral toward a set of values, depending on the sort of work he is writing and his aim for the text. Some works are improved by subjectivity and some are harmed by it. The fewer biases the author utilizes, the more his readers are likely to find his work agreeable.

However, when reading a work, the reader always gets a sense of the implied author (or “official scribe”), and he is always distinguishable from other authors. He is never neutral toward all values. This influences the response of the reader to the work. The author is not neutral in the very fact that he makes choices in the work.

In addition, the implied author is different among different works by the same author. The implied author varies according to the characteristics of the works. These include the subject matter and the story itself. The implied author is different from the narrator, and the relationship of the reader with him is different from that of the reader with the narrator.

Style, tone and technique are all terms used to describe different aspects which the reader glimpses about the implied author. Commentary on the author’s part betrays subjectivity.

Impartiality and “Unfair” Emphasis

Impartiality refers to the author’s objective attitude towards his characters. The impartiality of an author enables the readers to be impartial and some of the satisfaction of the reader derives from his ability to reserve judgment himself. Complete impossibility however, like complete neutrality toward values, is impossible. Indeed, the preferring of one character over another is central to the reader’s sense of involvement in a story. The overinvolvement of the author, however, can run the risk of turning the reader off the novel, even to the point of evoking in the readers feelings of disgust and humiliation.

Impassibilité

Impassibilité is the adopting by the author of an impassive attitude toward the characters and events of the story. It is different from impartiality in that an author may be feel strongly about his characters, thus violating impassibilité, but remaining impartial- the traits the character possesses might justify objectively hate or love. The presence or absence of personal commentary does not indicate the violating of impassibilité.

Subjectivism Encouraged by Impersonal Techniques

Seemingly impersonal techniques such as impersonal narration “may, in fact, encourage the very subjectivism that it is supposed to cure”. To construct a reliable narrator the author must harness his personal voice. The author should beware of asking the reader for sympathy without giving the reader good reason for it. If the reader feels excessive sentimentality the fault lies with the author. There are no clear cut techniques which the author can apply to avoid subjectivity. Irony is the other extreme of subjectivity, where the author underlikes his characters. It may appear like an objective device but in fact belittling betrays subjectivity as much as sentimentality. The more the author betrays his personal likes and hates in his implied author the weaker the novel becomes. However the implied author should not be repressed and it is the “emotions and judgments of the implied author… [that are] the very stuff out of which great fiction is made”.

Wayne Boothe