We had a conversation in chat about whether authors had definitive knowledge of the meaning of their works and the general consensus was that they don't. However, this would imply that a work as hidden meaning not intended by the author. How can we draw meaning from works, if it was not intended ...

In this question, I asked about how meaning gets into a work if not intended by the author. In researching that question, I ran across mention of "authorial intent". In reading about it, I learned that it went through phases of being very important to analysists and other phases where it did not ...

This is an issue of whether to be inclusive or to be exclusive because in my view to focus on literature is to include literary analysis, but to focus on literary analysis is to exclude much of literature. I believe that based off of the questions we have and it is my belief that is what should d...

In this question, I asked about how meaning gets into a work if not intended by the author. In researching that question, I ran across mention of "authorial intent". In reading about it, I learned that it went through phases of being very important to analysists and other phases where it did not ...

I'm going to play devils' advocate here. I'm not sure I believe my own argument, but it's one that I think is important to, at minimum, meaningfully represent. Literature was given the broadest possible scope at the outset, and it's our job to discover its boundaries. The default Tour really cap...

The new review queues are currently refreshed every 20 minutes. So there'll generally be a delay between something becoming eligible for review and actually showing up in the queue.

I remember this book fairly well. I'll try to provide what I remember about all points. Cover The cover was predominantly blue, with spirals across the whole thing. I think it had a person on it. Author It was written by one of the authors of the original The 39 Clues series, so either ric...

During the events of The Heroes of Olympus, Gaea opened up the Doors of Death so that the monsters could come back easier. However, I could find no mention of how they got back without the Doors. But we know that they come back, as the Furies and the Minotaur regenerate. And if there was an eas...

We see atheist and Christian heroes in Dostoyevsky's books. In many cases the works of an author reflect elements of their own life. However, the extent to which this occurs vary by author. Especially, in this instance where he has portrayed both atheist and Christian heroes, his own religion doe...

In The Silver Chair, Rilian, while enchanted, said: Though under Earth and throneless now I be, Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me. From which it is plain that some great king of the ancient giants, who lives1 buried there, caused this boast to be cut in the stone ov...

Note:This does not in ANY WAY represent my own religious views. It's possible that CSL meant for the dwarves to represent the Jews. At the end of TLB, the dwarves refused to be 'taken in' by Aslan. It's possible that CSL meant for this to represent the Jews refusing to believe in Jesus. The J...

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, author of such works as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, was a devout Orthodox Catholic from a very young age. He is reported to at a young age recite prayers to guests to their great amazement. He also is said to have been greatly affected by vari...

In reading The Death of The Author by Roland Barthes, his references to how the author's writing was almost accidental and to a "theological meaning" strike me as suggesting that the author is only a means for a higher power to deliver their message. So, this led me to wonder whether this was inf...

The author still rules in manuals of literary history, in biographies of writers, in magazine interviews, and even in the awareness of literary men, anxious to unite, by their private journals, their person and their work; the image of literature to be found in contemporary culture is ...