virtualaenigma OP t1_ixcydfi wrote on November 22, 2022 at 2:44 PM

Reply to comment by maneating_tiger in The deep meanings we extract from books are not a reflection of the author's genius by virtualaenigma

That makes sense. I agree that well written works are more likely to elicit deeper meanings and a deeper connection than poorly written works.

What I don't get is why a particular book should be praised for some unique insight I got when that wasn't the intent of the author. The book was simply the means of getting me to that insight. Another book or movie or song lyric could also just as well have gotten me to that insight. So if that was not the intent of the author, then that particular book cannot be uniquely credited for helping me reach that particular insight.

maneating_tiger t1_ixehpcy wrote on November 22, 2022 at 8:53 PM

I think it can be "uniquely credited" because another book or song lyric didn't get you to that insight. We live in time linearly, by necessity we have to experience something before or after something else. At that point it just seems like common courtesy to at least partly credit the author for some of that experience. People definitely can get carried away, turning the author into some holy person because of the experience you had reading their book isn't good. But when I look back at books or any work of art that I learned something from, I still appreciate that work (and by extension the creator) because of the path it put me on.

Sure it's all fundamentally chance, but it's like when you're hungry and you eat a pizza, that pizza did fill you up even though a hamburger would have done the same thing. It's not weird to credit the pizza in that situation.