This discussion of embodiment sugge

This discussion of embodiment suggests a very different approach to narration. At the outset of this chapter I noted that narratology has focused on the gap between authors and narrators as perhaps the most common way to understand the rhetorical work of a story. From such a perspective, readers must always question the authority of the narrator in order to recognize the genuine message and perspective within a narrative. In this chapter I have suggested something rather different by linking authority to the way in which narratives construct embodiment. I have argued that narratives position readers by carefully manipulating embodied and disembodied figures within the text. Two practical implications result if we accept this argument.