Indeterminacy

[davewitley]

Nora wrote:

> Barthesian hard post-modern indeterminacy is dead.  Deader than a 
> doornail.  The author is back alive in some way, shape, or form, 
and 
> context matters; the "so what?" ending Barthes ultimately takes 
you 
> to is rather unsatisfactory.

That may be true as far as academic criticism goes, and it's nice to 
know the (current) end point of pursuing a line of inquiry or a 
method.  However, for a group such as this, it's part of the fun to 
play 'let's pretend' and consider that all her comments are excluded 
from the discussion.  And there is no doubt that many fans find some 
of her interventions problematic in the extreme - to the point of no 
longer enjoying the series, judging by some of the comments over at 
Hog's Head.

  It is an equally arbitrary offense to 
> say that "The word of the author is absolute law!" as to say 
> that "The word of the author is completely meaningless, free 
> interpretation is everything!".  I find it's often useful to take 
> authors into consideration about their own works, even when it's 
no 
> longer a WIP.  When it *is* a work in progress, the authorial 
> comments can be an excellent heuristic, as has been pointed out in 
> other threads.

How very post-modern.  ;-)

David