Originally posted by MasterKiller
Personally, I think it's a fallacy to assume that the author has no control over the meaning of his work once it's released. The author of a story provides sign posts throught the text, which an educated reader should be able to interpret correctly. Following these sign posts leads the reader to the conclusion intended by the author. Of course, it takes a competent author to do this successfully, and the reader also brings a lot of excess baggage into the equation which the author certainly could never account for; nonetheless, it is the responsibiity of the author to convey the message properly and the responsibility of the reader to be educated about the medium which he is reading. If both do their job, the author's meaning will be conveyed.
So this thread was not really hijacked?