IV "autobiographical"?

[Michael Bailey]

>He's a really good writer.  That's just his job though...  Anything I
>can say about him the person would be limited to the same amount
>of stuff I could say about anyone else that I haven't met.

In case that sounded churlish, I should probably label it as a "straw
person argument"

> -- which third story is that of the author, the happy medium for the
> tale, who is
> more interesting than the reader-while-reading, and more real than the story...

lest that truly is unclear (I'm no judge, unfortunately),
let me try again:
yes, reading is a mediated experience, but the reason fiction is so great is
that once we're no longer tied to reality, we can imagine things as
they ought to be. (and then go on to set them right in reality,
but only if you're a hard-core fictioneer is that part of fiction proper)
One of the things one is liable to think is,
There ought to be somebody telling this wonderful story! ...and that's
who the author is...

ah...wait...maybe...it has to do with work: if one loves one's work
then it can be expressive of who one really is (?) (!)
so if you appreciate the work then to some extent you do come to a
knowledge of or acquaintanceship with the worker