Ok_Let8329 t1_ixaw39u wrote on November 22, 2022 at 1:50 AM

That's like saying a musician doesn't deserve praise for making you cry with a melody, because they didn't "intend" to make you reflect on your specific grief, a dead parent, for example. But that's missing the point. Think of it this way: they took you to that place through skill and talent, and you found something personal there. It's a collaboration right? Because words don't just exist on the page, they're brought to life through your perception, but it takes talent or skill to get you there.

On the cynical side, you could elicit "deep meaning" from a chocolate chip cookie recipe if you really wanted to. The cookie dough is my soul and each dark chip is mark on it, etc. But, that's more or less projecting your own interpretation completely outside of what the author intended. Maybe that's what you're talking about. But, that isn't how most literature works. Most authors intend to take you to a certain place, where you can elicit a specific type of meaning.

But, it really does take a genius level of talent to bring you to certain places. To say the deep meaning in Blood Meridian is just a coincidence or not intended by the author is naïve. Every single word is intentional. You might read something you think is inconsequential, but it's actually a reference or a revision to the literary canon. A new idea or a new way of looking at an old idea, symbolism, or metaphors with layers of meaning. That isn't an accident, that's talent.

virtualaenigma OP t1_ixb98nu wrote on November 22, 2022 at 3:32 AM

I don't mean that the skill and talent of the musician or the writer should not be praised. They may very well be excellent in their craft.

What I mean is that often people will praise a piece of work for eliciting a certain feeling or making them think a certain way. They will talk about that feeling or perspective as an intentional choice that the author made, for which they ought to be praised. But if that was never the intent of the author, isn't that more from the reader's interpretation than from the author? It doesn't mean that the author is any less skilled as a writer but that particular feeling came from the reader, not the book.

For example, a feminist reader may praise a book for its portrayal of strong female characters. If the author never really intended to highlight strong female characters, isn't that unearned praise for the author?

Ok_Let8329 t1_ixbfre1 wrote on November 22, 2022 at 4:29 AM

>For example, a feminist reader may praise a book for its portrayal of strong female characters. If the author never really intended to highlight strong female characters, isn't that unearned praise for the author?

That example doesn't really make sense. The author still wrote strong female characters, whether a feminist praises it or not.

virtualaenigma OP t1_ixcth9p wrote on November 22, 2022 at 2:07 PM

The author may have simply written a strong character who happens to be female. The author may never have intended the character's gender to be a focal point but a feminist would praise the book as though the author intended to strengthen a female character. That would be false praise for the author.

Maybe my example doesn't make sense but the point I'm making is that for me to praise a book for presenting a concept or a perspective that was not the author's intent is unearned praise for the author.

Ok_Let8329 t1_ixddqqq wrote on November 22, 2022 at 4:32 PM

>The author may have simply written a strong character who happens to be female. The author may never have intended the character's gender to be a focal point but a feminist would praise the book as though the author intended to strengthen a female character. That would be false praise for the author.

The author is actually deserving of more praise in that example, because he wrote a strong female character subconsciously, and so he's naturally a feminist and his work is not contrived.

>Maybe my example doesn't make sense but the point I'm making is that for me to praise a book for presenting a concept or a perspective that was not the author's intent is unearned praise for the author.

You might've had this experience with a few books and are trying to extrapolate a universal theory. I can't think of any good examples of this, though.