<<Are you saying then, that if by some miracle, Mr. Salinger held a press conference and "explained" some piece of his work, you would dismiss what he said? Is this fair to say? Patrick Pfkw@msn.com>> No, lord no, I wouldn't "dismiss" anything any author said about their own work. But I wouldn't uncritically accept it as the once for all truth either. And I also want to reemphasize that there's a difference between what the author says he had on his mind when he wrote a text (or says that he didn't) and the text itself. I'd never argue with an author when they talked about that--we all own our own ideas, motives, and intent. That doesn't mean authors are perfectly honest there, either, but it's not worth arguing because you can never know, and I'd just as soon take someone at their word and assume they're being honest. But, again, when an author says, "this is what a text means, period," no, I don't accept that as the last word. If he says, "this is what I meant," well, I do accept that. Jim _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]