The authority of an author is the decisions he or she makes. The author can decide things like the plot, the setting, the characters, and other elements of the paper. Nabokov chose things like the point of view and the thesis. Nabokov decided to make this essay a first person point of view. He could use words like I, my, and mine. He shared his personal opinions from his point of view. I bet he chose first person view so he could make his points stronger by personally stating them. He had authority and decided to make his essay slightly more personal by making the point of view first person. He had authority over the thesis as well. He decided to make the thesis about reading and writing. Not only is the thesis about reading and writing, but it gets more specific by being about improving on reading and writing. The thesis also goes into another big decision. The plot is probably the most important decision the author makes. Nabokov made the decision to compose an essay about instructing people on good reading and writing. Nabokov had authority on all aspects of his paper and he made good decisions for the most part.
Bibliography! :
Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." Lectures on Literature. New York: Plurabelle Books, 1946
How did his choice of 1st person POV affect the level of authority he seems to have on the subject of reading and writing? Would it have been different if it were written in 3rd person? How so? Why?
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