The Implied Contract Between Author and Reader. Discuss!

[peter]

We are fully entitled to level criticism [fair or unfair - if it's unfair then we ourselves expect to be shot down] on any work placed in the public arena be it a table, a resaurant menu or a work of art. If your best friend shows you his novel then you are entitled to criticise it [try to be at least kind though even if truthful]. We are also fully entitled to a degree of expectation regarding a work thus placed - if it's a Donald Duck film we can expect him to hit Goofy and if a Werner Herzog film, expect people not to be igniting their farts. If Herzog makes 'Dumb and Dumber' but sells it to you as Fitzcoraldo [?] then he may be criticised even if it's the best 'Dumb and Dumber' ever made for he has deliberately misled you. The author of any work must be broad shouldered enough to bear such criticism [true or false] or one should invoke the old saying "If you can't stand the heat......." Unfair criticism can always be answerd; criticism that cannot be spoken [to spare the authors feelings or for whatever reason] cannot.