34 pages • 1 hour read
Ron RoyThe Absent Author
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Wallis Wallace’s Books
Wallace’s books are a motif that develops The Value of Reading. Nearly every child in town (other than Josh) has read them, and the mystery genre helps to shape Dink’s awareness of events throughout his investigation into Wallace’s apparent kidnapping. The books make Dink feel like a detective, they offer clues (e.g., The Poisoned Pond mentions Wallace’s castle in Maine, while The Mystery in the Museum suggests inquiring into the victim’s life), and they help the children solve the mystery in which they have found themselves.
Wallace’s novels also serve as a connecting point between Wallis Wallace and Dink and his friends, representing the way books help children access worlds beyond their own. It is significant in this respect that the titles of Wallace’s novels closely resemble Roy’s own, principally through their use of alliteration. This parallel invites readers of The Absent Author into a similar relationship with writers and with reading.
Letters
The letters that Dink and Mavis have received from Wallis Wallace contain important details about the author that prompt Dink and his friends to uncover the nature of the author’s disappearance. In part, the letters symbolize the author’s voice and identity; Wallace’s signature is distinctively “loopy,” for example, which allows the children to corroborate one signature in the Shangri-la guestbook and forces Mavis/Wallace to smudge a second so as not to reveal herself.
The letters also hint at mysterious circumstances that Dink recognizes from the Wallis Wallace novels he has read. The letters allude to potential kidnapping and to being followed, setting up the premise of the investigation and representing Wallis Wallace’s belief that her readers can solve mysteries, as well as her desire to provide fun adventures for them. Once the scheme is revealed, she explains that she included the word “kidnapped” deliberately to encourage Dink to pursue that line of inquiry—another example of the way reading can impact the real world.
The Shangri-la Hotel
The Shangri-la Hotel is a recurring setting in The Absent Author. As a motif, it evokes the mood and conventions of the mystery genre. There are many closed doors and rules in the hotel that provide anonymity to its guests. At the same time, hotels have ledgers for keeping a paper trail and are filled with people who can reveal clues. The term “Shangri-la” stems from the 1933 James Hilton novel Lost Horizons, in which a character mysteriously disappears. In Lost Horizons, Shangri-la is a mythical spiritual utopia. Its usage in The Absent Author adds an implication of a great mystery revealed.
Mavis’s Scarf
Mavis’s scarf is one of several clues that help the children solve the mystery, but it stands out as a symbol of both the importance of close reading and (relatedly) The Value of Observation in Problem-Solving. When Dink first notices the letters on the scarf, he assumes that they are Ms—partly because of their orientation, but also because of Mavis’s name. The children do not consider that an upside-down M is identical to a W until the final pages of the novel. This oversight highlights the importance of approaching both texts and real-world events neutrally and considering them from multiple perspectives.
