Re: Try listening to the real ideas and ignore vitriolic attacks

Original intent discussion crowd:

Let me try and put this very simply.

There are authors. There is meaning. There is intention.

Because there are also readers, and because of the way language is
structured, meaning can exceed intention.

This sometimes happens in ordinary utterances, such as "I like your hair that
way." or "You look like you've lost weight." (Try it guys.)

It happens very often in more complex or especially in figurative utterances
(such as poems or novels).

It does not make reading impossible. It does not make communication
impossible. It does not make all readings equally valid. It does make some
sorts of reading complicated and even problematic. It makes some acts of
reading interminable. For that, we have the authors to thank, as well as
some of the readers.

None of this is new.

I thank Kafka almost every day.

All the best,

--John

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Received on Wed Mar 5 18:57:00 2003