“Freshwater” by Akwaeke Emezi (post 4): As this novel illustrates, the real author of novels may not be the regular, named, book signing, host personality.

In this novel, the title of each chapter indicates which personality is narrating it. Why are the fewest chapters narrated by Ada, the regular personality?

Because she is only the host personality, and as such, she may be the personality who is least aware of what the whole person thinks and does.

Ada is aware of herself, but is only intermittently and partially aware of who her alternate personalities are, and what they think and do. In contrast, some alternate personalities may be completely aware of themselves and Ada, too. They have more and longer chapters than Ada, because they know more than she does.

There are no scenes depicting Ada as a novelist, because she is not the actual author.

Who is the author of this novel? In the conventional sense, Akwaeke Emezi is, obviously. But since the novel is autobiographical, and she has multiple personality, the question becomes which of her personalities is the actual author.

To know who is (or are) the real author(s) of a novel, you would have to know all the personalities who participated, and the responsibility each had, in the writing process. This information would be possible to obtain by a series of expert interviews.