The Cellar - View Single Post - Authorial Intent / Authority vs. the Reader's Interpretation

SteveDallas · 06-05-2007, 11:10 AM

"Everybody knows" that Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship. (Many people, of course, know this because they were told it by their English teachers.)

Yet Bradbury recently said that's not it at all. It's really about the decline of literacy (as in the practice of reading books, if not the actual skill of being able to read) and the rise of video.

So who's right? Who am I (or anybody else) to ascribe a certain meaning to a book when the author himself has said that view is wrong? Is Bradbury being overly stubborn in his seeming reluctance to understand why people have interpreted his work this way?

06-05-2007, 11:10 AM	#1
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	Authorial Intent / Authority vs. the Reader's Interpretation "Everybody knows" that Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship. (Many people, of course, know this because they were told it by their English teachers.) Yet Bradbury recently said that's not it at all. It's really about the decline of literacy (as in the practice of reading books, if not the actual skill of being able to read) and the rise of video. So who's right? Who am I (or anybody else) to ascribe a certain meaning to a book when the author himself has said that view is wrong? Is Bradbury being overly stubborn in his seeming reluctance to understand why people have interpreted his work this way?