“To authoritatively state that “Fahrenheit 451 is about How TV Destroys Literature” is as nauseating as someone telling me what the Bible is “about.” And we know how much dispute there is about that one. Books speak, not through the mouth of the author, but on their own. What a book means to you, or to me, IS precisely what it means–not what some author, teacher, or literary critic says it means. “

I’ve heard this argument a lot, but for me, writing, out of all the arts, is the least dependent on the interpretation of its audience. Music and the visual arts seem very specific to the context of their ingestion and the memory of these pieces more specific to the mindset of the patron’s moment.

A book totes its own context between its covers and the overall success (not popularity or notoriety) of a work of literature is the achievement of how much of the author’s intent came through the words he chose.

Now this is entirely my opinion and the margin of individual reaction and interpretation is fascinating and can be quite fun. But Bret Easton Ellis’, AMERICAN PSYCHO, comes to mind. It sold many copies and boosted Ellis’ fame, but because of its wide misinterpretation (according to what Mr. Ellis claims he meant) I have to wonder if it feels, to him, as a success or a niggling missed mark.