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Message: <blockquote data-quote="roguerouge" data-source="post: 4501380" data-attributes="member: 13855">Seconded. You'd be amazed at the number of times that an author has been flat out wrong about his own work, or changed his mind after publication. Examples: DW Griffith evidently sincerely believed that Birth of a Nation was an anti-war film. (The book author he was adapting was quite clear on the ultimate goal of the material, however.) Another example: Hitchcock was famous for lying and misleading audiences, critics, and interviewers about his films.You'd be less amazed at the huge numbers of authors that fudge the truth and say they had whatever intent makes them look good to critics and hot girls/boys.So, the question you have to ask yourself is: why would you believe the author? If you do believe the author it's because your experience of the text confirms their interpretation. The text, not the author's intent, is the primary factor.In addition, you don't have to mean what you say. Consider that people can unintentionally create many important meanings. Example: you unintentionally imply that that dress does make her look fat, which means that you think she is fat, which means that you're not attracted to her any more, which means that the relationship is doomed, you big meanie! I hate you!Now, that's a comic example of a fairly common principle.</blockquote>