The implied author exists in the present, as does the text we interpret: thus, when we interpret literature (or any other type of text, for that matter), we speak or write in what is known as the literary present tense, which looks astonishingly like the present tense (because it is).
As concepts, the implied author and the distinction between the implied and historical authors are fundamental to literary criticism. They are givens. One does not refer to the implied author as \"the implied author\" in nearly every circumstance: rather, one refers to the implied author by the name of the historical author.
\"The implied author might as easily (and with greater justice) be called the \'inferred author.\'\"

Intentional Interpretation: Fundamental Questions