MARY KATE POSTS:
Is it possible for an author to be wrong about their own work? On the surface, I don't think so, especially when it comes to a direct explanation of their text (or even summary). However, I think that an author can be incomplete when interpreting their work. For instance, perhaps they are aware of their intention, however, what if a subconscious purpose or intention exists within an author? I think someone like Freud would argue yes, but it is impossible to prove. I do think that readers can add or expand to an author's interpretation of their works. Because once an author puts a work "out there," it is open to interpretation and scrutiny. An author's intention makes up only part of literature, but without the reader's spin or view on it, does literature even exist?
1 comment:
Mary Kate's making her move right before the buzzer! Bold stuff.
Anyway, yes, it is absolutely possible for an author to misinterpret their own work. People have only the loosest grasp of their own intentions in any area of life; why should literature be any different? This class has taught me to examine my motives and try to look at the logical structures underlying every part of literary criticism, but that doesn't mean I stopped making gut decisions, or truly understand my every motivation. An author's work is shaped in part by his intention, in part by his subconscious, in part by his society, in part by the limitations of language, and in part by any number of other things. An author has no ability to make a perfect interpretation of his own work, just as we have no ability to make a perfect interpretation. A perfect interpretation could only come from a perfectly objective observer who has perfect knowledge of the author's thoughts, his past, and his society; the existence of such an observer is absurd. But we muddle on the best we can, and in that arena, at least, the interpretation of the author does have some advantage: at least he knows his own intent. All we have is guesswork and conjecture.
Unless, of course, the author is lying.
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