| Summary: | The recent development, in the field of Discourse Analysis, of a reflection on the notions of “author” and “image of the author” calls into question traditional distinctions: authors are neither the “enunciators” of the text nor persons in the flesh, who are part of the context. As for the “image of the author”, it depends neither on the producer of the text nor on the audience: it is the result of the interaction between heterogeneous stakeholders.To begin with, we shall try to clarify the term « author », which can establish a relation (“the author of this pamphlet”) or designate an individual (“an important author”). A distinction is made between three dimensions of the notion of author : 1) the entity that answers for a text : the author as a “guarantor”, 2) the “author” as an “actor” who has a specific status in society, 3) the author as correlated to a work, an opus: the author-auctor, who can be associated with an image.We then try to analyse under what conditions an entity can rise to the status of « auctor ». Having a proper name is not sufficient. Various cases are studied: the politicians, who do not write their discourses, company’s brands, advertising agencies, collective beings (political parties, groups of artists…).Finally, we tackle the problems raised by Internet: can the author of a blog claim to be an “auctor” ? On the Web the status of auctor is at risk, because of the proliferation of producers and texts, the elimination of the mediators and the instability of texts. This reflection is illuminated by studying two blogs: that of a supermarket cashier who got famous thanks to her blog and that of an unknown woman named “Julie”. In the current transition from the traditional regime of textuality, when printing prevailed, and a digital regime which is constantly evolving, one must wonder whether Internet will or will not create new forms of authorship.
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