--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Steve Novak <Cinefrog@...> wrote:
>
> I very much doubt that we can ever know what ³the real feelings of the
> author² are...and they simply donıt matter...if you enter the path of
> judging the authorıs views, real, reported or inferred...you are on a
> slippery slope...
Very slippery slope... I once read a book of literary criticism based
on authorial intention (German author, IIRC). The author was very
entertaining but did not convince me. It looked to me like he was
handpicking his examples to prove that his methods work.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Chandler wrote his novels
as parodies. Suppose we actually know that. How would that knowledge
change the novels for the reader? I don't think it would prevent
anyone from entering Marlowe's fictional world and enjoying his
adventures. It also would not affect Chandler's sharp criticism of the
society of his day and place.
And what about anonymous writers, or writers about whom very little is
known?
What if we were to discover that the main intention of an author, God
forbid, was to make money?
Best,
mrt
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