The form of the author in a model of reading of administrative forms

Abstract

Literary theories have been fruitfully applied to texts which are in no sense "literary". One kind of non-literary text which has not received much attention is the administrative form, or business form. A consideration of administrative forms shows that they pose significant challenges to the simple (and admittedly already much contested) tripartite model of reading: AUTHOR → TEXT → Attention is then focused on the AUTHOR element, and it is argued that the author of an READER. In this paper, an expanded model is introduced. administrative form is better conceptualized, not as an individual writing subject, but as individually anonymous corporate body.