Very true. There are always readers who do this- they read in symbolism and allegory that the writer never intended (or maintains that they did not.)
I still see question online, probing the works of authors who are no longer here to speak for themselves. The questioners ask for the real meaning of this or that novel. (LORD OF THE RINGS and WATERSHIP DOWN are just two examples.) And they ask for the analyses of ‘experts’ who had no part in the creation, and never knew the author.
When my Dad was in college, his literature class was asked to write their answer to what a certain poet, was thinking as he wrote a selected work they were studying. As most of the class probed and pondered, Dad argued that the poet was long dead, and we cannot presume to know what he was thinking. The teacher did not appreciate his candor.
And for those who tell us exactly what C.C. Lewis was trying to do in the NARNIA books- how many know that Aslan the Lion did not appear in the first draft of what became THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE? When you realize that titles can sometimes come last, you can appreciate that he didn’t really have it all mapped out like a master plan.
Very true. There are always readers who do this- they read in symbolism and allegory that the writer never intended (or maintains that they did not.)
I still see question online, probing the works of authors who are no longer here to speak for themselves. The questioners ask for the real meaning of this or that novel. (LORD OF THE RINGS and WATERSHIP DOWN are just two examples.) And they ask for the analyses of ‘experts’ who had no part in the creation, and never knew the author.
When my Dad was in college, his literature class was asked to write their answer to what a certain poet, was thinking as he wrote a selected work they were studying. As most of the class probed and pondered, Dad argued that the poet was long dead, and we cannot presume to know what he was thinking. The teacher did not appreciate his candor.
And for those who tell us exactly what C.C. Lewis was trying to do in the NARNIA books- how many know that Aslan the Lion did not appear in the first draft of what became THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE? When you realize that titles can sometimes come last, you can appreciate that he didn’t really have it all mapped out like a master plan.