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Journal of Business Communication
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Conceptualizing the Writer-Reader Relationship in Business Prose

Daphne A. Jameson

Cornell University, daj2{at}cornell.edu

Writers achieve an appropriate writer-reader relationship in business prose not by merely switching from their own to the reader’s viewpoint but by artfully interweaving multiple rhetorical and linguistic elements. The writer-reader relationship is expressed through the many possible combinations of vision and voice, which originate in the textual identities of the implied writer, the implied reader, and, sometimes, other characters. By combining multiple visions and voices, writers create what Bakhtin called intentionally hybrid, internally dialogic language that fulfills a social purpose by reflecting human relationships even when the subject matter is impersonal and technical. You-attitude is but one instance of such language and is not always the best choice. Texts written by Sherron Watkins, former vice president of Enron, illustrate how a writer’s decisions about textual identities, vision, and voice may affect the course of corporate events in dramatic, unexpected ways.

Key Words: narrative theory • implied reader • implied writer • you-attitude • dialogism • voice • tone • point of view • perspective • Enron

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 41, No. 3, 227-264 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0021943604265953
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