The Road to Hell
Originally posted at Uncreated Conscience.
James Joyce intended many things when he wrote ULYSSES. That's why we usually study this text with an enormous honking book of annotations. (And I LOVE JOYCE.)
I want to this put this out there and I sincerely hope I don’t offend anyone when I say The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
This is a common problem I see with many novice writers (and some experienced ones as well), especially those of a literary bent. Now please, please, please don’t take this the wrong way, but your intentions don’t matter. As an English literature major, this was something that was drilled into our heads while we struggled to keep our eyes open during 8am lectures: it is a huge mistake to examine a work of literature through the lens of authorial intent. Because you will never know what the authorial intent is.
Appropriate for students of 19th century fiction (such as myself) because the majority of the writers I loved and studied are dead, but I believe this holds true for all fiction. Writers, you cannot say to everyone person who has read your book, “Well, I meant X, Y, and Z.” You how know in everyday conversation, you can say something but your words can be misconstrued despite your intent?
That’s exactly what can happen in books too.
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