Excellent points for all readers and writers to consider.
My personal take on the primacy/irrelevance of the author’s intent is to reject it as a false dichotomy.
“The author’s intent doesn’t matter,” is a route to lazy, self-satisfied reading, a refusal to of the reader to accept the work’s challenge.
“The author’s intent is all that matters” is a route to arid, self-effacing academicism, and this, I assume, was Barthes’ target.
Writings are provoked by a context, and understanding that context enriches our appreciation of the work. Writings, like all works of art, elicit a personal response from the beholder, otherwise why bother reading?
We can (and I would argue, should) do all the things.😊
Excellent points for all readers and writers to consider.
My personal take on the primacy/irrelevance of the author’s intent is to reject it as a false dichotomy.
“The author’s intent doesn’t matter,” is a route to lazy, self-satisfied reading, a refusal to of the reader to accept the work’s challenge.
“The author’s intent is all that matters” is a route to arid, self-effacing academicism, and this, I assume, was Barthes’ target.
Writings are provoked by a context, and understanding that context enriches our appreciation of the work. Writings, like all works of art, elicit a personal response from the beholder, otherwise why bother reading?
We can (and I would argue, should) do all the things.😊
Wonderfully put. I agree. Doing all the things even sounds more fun :)