Implied Reader

Hypothetical reader of a text as inferred from its characteristics
Tuuli Hongisto 2025-09-24

Explication

The term implied reader refers to an ideal recipient of a work whose disposition can be inferred from the text. The idea of the implied reader (in the form “postulated reader”) was first expressed in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth (137), who defined it as an image of the reader that the author creates when writing a work of fiction. The term rose to prominence when it was expanded on by Wolfgang Iser (34), who posits that the implied reader embodies all the tendencies to best experience a literary work. He emphasises that the implied reader is a construct that can be formed based on the text alone and is thus separate from the real reader (Iser 34). The term can be used to describe the knowledge levels and competences required to understand and form interpretations of a work. This can be evident in a work like Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire that requires attentive reading and background knowledge on literature (Phelan & Rabinowitz, 141). The concept of implied reader is often used within the context of the communicative model of reading, which describes the chain of communication between the sender and receiver of a work of literature (consisting of the real author, implied author, narrator, narratee, implied reader, and the real reader) (Chatman 151; Phelan 2–3). Similar concepts that differentiate the reader as a textual construct from the actual, flesh-and-blood reader include, among others, Umberto Eco’s (206–207) model reader, Peter J. Rabinowitz’s (21) authorial audience, and Wolf Schmid’s (53–54) abstract reader.

Digital media has brought new elements to the interaction between the reader and the text, and research on reading experiences of [ergodic literature] and the role of the player in the context of video games has broadened the concept of the implied reader. In 1997, Espen Aarseth (Cybertext 127) introduced the term “implied user” and later expanded on it in the form of “implied player” (“Fought”). In his definition, implied player is “a role made for the player by the game, a set of expectations that the player must fulfil for the game to ‘exercise its effect’”. Aarseth further argues that implied player is more material than the implied reader, since the game cannot progress without the player’s input (“Fought” 184). Building on Aarseth’s definition, Gerald Farca (195–197) specifies that the implied player is a framework that describes what kind of roles the game offers for the player to perform, such as trying to win the game, experiencing the narrative, or exploring the game world. The concept of implied reader has also been reformulated to fit the context of interface design and [platform studies] with the conceptualisation of “implied user”, characterising what kind of user the designer of an artefact had in mind when making it (Armaselu).

The concept of implied reader, along with its counterpart, [implied author], has been both influential and heavily debated since its inception. The term has been criticised as superfluous; for instance, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan (89–92) and Marie-Laure Ryan (36) have argued that the concept is not necessary for discussing the communicative chain between the author and the reader. Theorists using the concept have also been criticised for providing little indication on how it should be used methodologically (Kindt 58) and for basing their assumptions on unverifiable speculation (Bortolussi & Dixon 7; Alber). Some have even suggested that, instead of using the concept of the implied reader, the study of the reading process and interpretation should turn solely to empirical research of real readers (Alber 37–38; Bortolussi & Dixon 13). A similar tension exists in game studies as well, between researchers who want to approach the player as a construct that can be inferred from the game and researchers who want to focus on the actual, historical players (I Fought The Law 183).

Despite its criticisms, the concept of implied reader continues to be popular in research on literature and digital media. It can be regarded as a useful tool for discussing texts as products of intentional acts of communication without appealing directly to the real author’s wishes on how their audience should react to their work. For instance, the concept can be used to point out the differences between a hypertext reader and a reader of a conventional book (Oikonomidou), or to show how computer-generated works can have two implied readers in the sense that their reading experience can be altered depending on whether the reader reads the source code of the work or not (Hongisto).

See Also

• Affordances - Possible interactions that a tool, medium, or environment offers to its users, shaping the way content can be created, experienced, and understood
• Ergodic Literature - Texts that require significant effort from the reader to traverse, often involving non-linear navigation and interaction that contribute to the narrative's meaning
• Platform Studies - Academic field that examines the underlying computer systems and technologies that support digital media and literature, focusing on their impact on creative practices and cultural expressions
• Speculative Interface - Modes of interaction in creative works or digital humanities projects that imagine alternatives to existing interfaces

Works Referenced

Aarseth, Espen J. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Aarseth, Espen J. “I Fought the Law: Transgressive Play and the Implied Player”. From Literature to Cultural Literacy, edited by Naomi Segal & Daniela Koleva. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp.180–188. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137429704

Alber, Jan. “Rhetorical Ways of Covering Up Speculations and Hypotheses, or Why Empirical Investigations of Real Readers Matter.” Style, vol. 52_,_ no_._ 1–2, 2018, pp. 34–39. https://doi.org/10.5325/style.52.1-2.0034

Armaselu, Florentina. “Towards a Computer-assisted Aesthetics of User Response.” Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, vol. 37, no. 1, 2022, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqab069

Booth, Wayne. C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd. ed., University of Chicago Press, 1983. (Originally published 1961)

Bortolussi, Marisa & Dixon, Peter. Psychonarratology: Foundations for the Empirical Study of Literary Response. Cambridge University Press, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500107

Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. 6th ed., Cornell University Press, 1993. (Originally published 1978)

Eco, Umberto. The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts. Indiana University Press, 1979.

Farca, Gerald. “Towards the Implied Player.” Playing Dystopia: Nightmarish Worlds in Video Games and the Player’s Aesthetic Response. Transcript Verlag, 2018, pp. 159–210. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839445976

Hongisto, Tuuli. “Reading Computer-Generated Texts: Examining Code as a Reading Strategy”. Digital Creativity, vol_._ 34, no. 4. 2023, pp. 296–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2023.2274451.

Kindt, Tom. The Implied Author Concept and Controversy. Walter de Gruyter, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110201727

Iser, Wolfgang. The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. (Original work published 1972)

Oikonomidou, Anastasia, and Anastasia Karagianni. “Printed Hyper-Texts in the Greek Literature for Children. Breaking the Canon and Creating a New Type of Implied Reader: The Case of Eugene Trivizasa”. Journal of Literary Education, no. 5, 2021, pp. 112–23. https://doi.org/10.7203/JLE.5.21296.

Phelan, James., & Rabinowitz, P. J. Understanding Narrative. Ohio State University Press.

Phelan, James. “Authors, Resources, Audiences: Toward a Rhetorical Poetics of Narrative.” Style, vol_._ 52, no_._ 1–2, 2018, pp. 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1353/sty.2018.0001

Rabinowitz, Peter J. Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and the Politics of Interpretation 2nd ed., Ohio State University Press, 1998. (Originally published 1987)

Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. Methuen, 1983.

Ryan, Marie-Laure. “Meaning, Intent, and the Implied Author.” Style, vol. 45, no. 1, 2011, pp. 29–47.

Schmid, Wolf. Narratology. An Introduction. De Gruyter, 2010.

Further Reading

Farca, Gerald. “Towards the Implied Player.” Playing Dystopia: Nightmarish Worlds in Video Games and the Player’s Aesthetic Response. Transcript Verlag, 2018, pp. 159–210. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839445976

Schmidt, Wolf. “Implied Reader”. Handbook of Narratology, edited by Peter Hühn et al. De Gruyter, 2014, pp. 301–309.

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