Sunday, January 18, 2004
What's The Author's Intent?
...
what's the author's intent?
you know what i say? who cares.
the only intent that matters is your own.
if, after reading a given author's book
(or essay, or whatever) you misinterpret
the author's intent, whose fault is that?
the author's? no.
yours? no.
you see, it's almost impossible to ascertain
an author's true intent.
besides, you have only yourself to account for.
if you have bad intentions,
that's mostly your fault.
likewise, if you have good intentions,
that's mostly your fault.
i mean, for example, consider this.
there's a well known saying which goes:
"the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
so, what exactly was the author's intent in articulating that?
was it good or evil?
was the author's intent to honorably and righteously
caution the reader against having good intentions?
yikes. *
wouldn't that mean that one should instead have evil
intentions?
or perhaps that one should have no intentions at all?
(that would probably account for the vast majority of
people on planet earth -- and the animals, and rocks).
so, there may be wisdom in having no intentions at all.
but anyway...
ok. so let's assume for a minute that the author of
that saying was merely making note of the irony of
life itself. perhaps the author was simply relaying
the ironically humorous message:
"no good deed goes unpunished."
if so, what was the author's intention when the author wrote:
"the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
was it good, or was it evil?
* if the author's intent was indeed self-deprecatingly
good, did the author ironically lay yet another brick on
the author's road to hell by informing us thusly?
on the other hand, if the author's intent was instead evil,
should we disregard the author's message completely?
even the worthwhile cautionary aspect to it?
anyway, as far as author's intent goes, i say:
who cares?
you're the reader.
you have free will.
use your free will.
reject the brainwash.
what you've done wrong is... finite.
what you've done right is... deLight.
do right.
...
perhaps the author of that good intentions thinger
was simply noting that good intentions are not
nearly enough.
or that pursuing goodness is often a hellish endeavor.
i can certainly vouch for both of those interpretations.
i've seen my (and many others') good intentions
(and actions) turn into the most aggravating of
outcomes.
it's certainly way easier to NOT be good.
but that doesn't mean that being good or having
good intentions is not worthwhile. hell no.
it doesn't mean that being good is bad.
at worst, it's an interesting learning experience
for how to be better.
...
anyway, you're on your own here.
if you think my intentions in writing this were evil,
well, i can assure you that they weren't, but you
probably will choose not to believe me.
if you think my intentions in writing this were good,
well, you're right. and may we both be spared the
aggravation that often comes with behaving thusly.
...
anyway, the final question here is this:
do you have good intentions?
if so, why? if not, why not?
-$Zero... ThankYouForReading...
ThisFreeBlog... (PunchlinesAreExtra)...
care to comment?
what's the author's intent?
you know what i say? who cares.
the only intent that matters is your own.
if, after reading a given author's book
(or essay, or whatever) you misinterpret
the author's intent, whose fault is that?
the author's? no.
yours? no.
you see, it's almost impossible to ascertain
an author's true intent.
besides, you have only yourself to account for.
if you have bad intentions,
that's mostly your fault.
likewise, if you have good intentions,
that's mostly your fault.
i mean, for example, consider this.
there's a well known saying which goes:
"the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
so, what exactly was the author's intent in articulating that?
was it good or evil?
was the author's intent to honorably and righteously
caution the reader against having good intentions?
yikes. *
wouldn't that mean that one should instead have evil
intentions?
or perhaps that one should have no intentions at all?
(that would probably account for the vast majority of
people on planet earth -- and the animals, and rocks).
so, there may be wisdom in having no intentions at all.
but anyway...
ok. so let's assume for a minute that the author of
that saying was merely making note of the irony of
life itself. perhaps the author was simply relaying
the ironically humorous message:
"no good deed goes unpunished."
if so, what was the author's intention when the author wrote:
"the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
was it good, or was it evil?
* if the author's intent was indeed self-deprecatingly
good, did the author ironically lay yet another brick on
the author's road to hell by informing us thusly?
on the other hand, if the author's intent was instead evil,
should we disregard the author's message completely?
even the worthwhile cautionary aspect to it?
anyway, as far as author's intent goes, i say:
who cares?
you're the reader.
you have free will.
use your free will.
reject the brainwash.
what you've done wrong is... finite.
what you've done right is... deLight.
do right.
...
perhaps the author of that good intentions thinger
was simply noting that good intentions are not
nearly enough.
or that pursuing goodness is often a hellish endeavor.
i can certainly vouch for both of those interpretations.
i've seen my (and many others') good intentions
(and actions) turn into the most aggravating of
outcomes.
it's certainly way easier to NOT be good.
but that doesn't mean that being good or having
good intentions is not worthwhile. hell no.
it doesn't mean that being good is bad.
at worst, it's an interesting learning experience
for how to be better.
...
anyway, you're on your own here.
if you think my intentions in writing this were evil,
well, i can assure you that they weren't, but you
probably will choose not to believe me.
if you think my intentions in writing this were good,
well, you're right. and may we both be spared the
aggravation that often comes with behaving thusly.
...
anyway, the final question here is this:
do you have good intentions?
if so, why? if not, why not?
-$Zero... ThankYouForReading...
ThisFreeBlog... (PunchlinesAreExtra)...
care to comment?
