Would my book, my words, be different if I were a murderer, for example?” Cain asks carefully. I think about it for a moment. “Words have meaning. I suppose who the author is, what he’s done might change that meaning.”
“Isn’t meaning more to do with the reader?”
“No…a story is about leading a reader to meaning. The revelation is theirs, but we show them the way. I suppose the morality of the writer influences whether you can trust what they are showing you.”
“Even if you don’t know what they’ve done?”
“Especially if you don’t know. If you are aware, then you can account for it in your interpretation of the work. Is it a manipulation, a defence? Is it an expression of guilt?”
The Woman In The Library by Sulari Gentill
Making meaning
My Book Joy 