Literature

[GuidoHunter]

Literature's hidden meanings: Are they subject to the author, or the reader?

I don't know how many times I've had this discussion with my friends. I have a serious beef with studying literature (like in my senior english class) because I feel the deeper meanings to works are purposefully put there by the author and that anything else that you say you find in the words is wrong, because it's not what the author intended. It's pretty hard to ask the authors what their works really mean (due to timely death), so I'd rather not go and (I feel) insult the author by misinterpreting his or her work, but, then again, I only appreciate art for its aesthetic value, not for its meanings and whatnot. Carl Sagan actually told a froup of people who got together and analyzed his works that they were quite wrong and that he didn't mean half of the stuff they gleaned.

Some of my friends argue that the meanings and craftily hidden points are up to the reader to discover, and that the work means what the reader wants it to mean.

Note: This can apply to any form of art, too.

I think my opinion has been stated, so what do y'all think?

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com/