initial concerns of New Criticism and many would regard the position just stated as extreme. Even so, it is now accepted as axiomatic in literary circles that the meaning of literature transcends the historical intentions of the author.15 Literary critics today prefer to speak of an implied author, who is reconstructed by the reader from the narrative.16 When a person reads a story, he or she will inevitably form some impression about that story’s author. The story itself conveys a sense of the author’s