The Working Question on page fifteen in relation to authority of meaning rose many questions to mind. The question asks who subsequently determines the meaning behind any piece of written work: the reader or the writer? In this particular example, a close friend has written a poem about their grandmother’s funeral and I’ve perceived the piece to be about sex. Initially, because of my experience in Poetry workshops, I had no confusion- the author’s intentions are quite obviously the primary intentions. I stopped after that thought and asked myself if, in this same light, that makes the reader’s interpretation categorize as secondary. That then had me thinking about where creditability comes to play in this, having just considered that Beowulf has no valid author. The only interpretation that is known was observed by it’s past readers- “secondary” meaning. If I can’t accept their interpretation as credible and valid then I contradict myself in believing that the writer decides the meaning, and am ultimately left with no background and only my own interpretation to rely on. Although Beowulf is considered “the exception,” to that I question- what is the rule? If credibility must be given to the author of the text, then it should only make sense that their interpretations be respected. Subtract the author from the text and the role of the “primary” perceptions is passed along to the “secondary” category- the readers. Ultimately, I feel as if I’ve only confused myself more, and came to a conclusion that when questioning the authority of meaning- it may as well be determined on a case by case basis. It’s a topic I really look forward to discussing in lecture.
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In this working question, I think an easy solution would be to ask others what they think: if everyone notes the subtle undertones of sex, and author might be made aware of certain things that enabled such a reading. It’s less a matter of “author says” vs. “reader says” and more a process of building consensus and locating evidence. The reader needs to point to certain materials signifiers (words) that led him to his meaning, and the author can, in turn, point to words intended to signal her meaning. Thus, we have a negotiation amongst contexts / meanings rather than simply taking one or the other persons word for it. And if a third and fourth person get involved, then we can start building consensus, which is important. In a way, a reader can say a text means anything, but there is likely to be a much smaller range of viable meanings, and the author’s intention is one such meaning, but not the final meaning (though if the author seems very credible, we might place more trust in that person’s own self-interpretation). Thanks for working through this one!