Official Discussion Forum for the works of Stephen R. Donaldson
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and he answered:rdhopeca wrote:In any event, I went and posted a question on the GI to ask SRD his opinion of the matter, to wit:
Maybe he'll even answerGood afternoon sir.
On the Watch, we're having a discussion about how much can be interpreted about an author's character and personal opinions based on the messages and/or themes housed within a work of fiction. In particular, if a work of fiction contains a lot of dysfunctional behavior within a love relationship (ie divorce, inability to reach out, etc etc), that one can imply that the author must have intimate knowledge of divorce et.al.
I've been insisting that one can't make any assumptions about the author's character or opinion, in the sense that if the novel is a horror novel, one can't then assume that the author enjoys killing and maiming, or spends his time down at the morgue swiping cadavers for experiments.
Realizing and respecting your privacy, I am still wondering...is it worthwhile to attempt to extrapolate things about the author based on their work?
Dare I say he agrees with my assertion?It has always seemed to me that attempting "to extrapolate things about the author based on their work" is a doomed exercise. The better the author, the more completely his/her experiences/emotions/opinions/self are both submerged and transformed in the work. (Just one mundane example: I started writing about divorce long before I actually experienced it. And having experienced it, I haven't written about it since--except to the extent that I've been following the implications of Covenant's divorce.) In fact, I'm inclined to argue that the whole point of my writing is to express what I am *not* (perhaps as a personal quest for wholeness). To get out of myself and into a realm composed entirely of imagination and empathy.
Of course, it ain't that simple. For one thing, I make all this stuff up (I mean my stories and characters): it pretty much has to express me SOMEhow. For another, an argument could be made that I am in the process of *becoming* what I write about. But anyone who chooses to draw conclusions on such bases is begging to be misled.
(01/12/2011)
