85% of what people "read into" any work is a simple reflection of themselves. 15% is actual enlightenment.
Most authors are human (I leave this to "Most" as to not anger those who believe that some books where written by a god or gods). Being that they are human, they will also write in ways that either reflect upon themselves and/or in ways that they are not conscientiously aware of, but in both respects outside observers (much like a psychiatrist or psychologist) will be able to observe behaviors and decrypt symbols that the author had not knowingly created.
An author may claim the meanings of certain things in a book and may claim that other things have no meaning, but it does not matter. The strength of an author is to convey exactly what he/she intends. It is like that of an actor. An author must convince you that this is a real story and these are the real facts and real messages. If an author fails at that then it is the weakness and fault of the author not the readers who may interpret it differently.
I feel that once an author, like an artist, releases his/her work into the open public, he/she has no more control over its interpretations. Like a wild animal or child.
The author of Earthsea signed the dotted line and received her check. It is wholly unprofessional of her to attack the director of the movie based on his interpretation of her work. She is in her right to disagree and dislike the movie but it should stop there. She should have cleared things up before she signed the contract and depositing their check.
Slashdot Mirror
85% of what people "read into" any work is a simple reflection of themselves. 15% is actual enlightenment. Most authors are human (I leave this to "Most" as to not anger those who believe that some books where written by a god or gods). Being that they are human, they will also write in ways that either reflect upon themselves and/or in ways that they are not conscientiously aware of, but in both respects outside observers (much like a psychiatrist or psychologist) will be able to observe behaviors and decrypt symbols that the author had not knowingly created. An author may claim the meanings of certain things in a book and may claim that other things have no meaning, but it does not matter. The strength of an author is to convey exactly what he/she intends. It is like that of an actor. An author must convince you that this is a real story and these are the real facts and real messages. If an author fails at that then it is the weakness and fault of the author not the readers who may interpret it differently. I feel that once an author, like an artist, releases his/her work into the open public, he/she has no more control over its interpretations. Like a wild animal or child. The author of Earthsea signed the dotted line and received her check. It is wholly unprofessional of her to attack the director of the movie based on his interpretation of her work. She is in her right to disagree and dislike the movie but it should stop there. She should have cleared things up before she signed the contract and depositing their check.