Taking the author to task over something is indeed tricky and maybe shouldn't even happen - did someone actually tell you that directly, or did they write that in a review?
Of course the author also has the right to correct people who are wrong about their intent - it would be ridiculous if the author didn't have the right to say something about their own work. And obviously the author is a better judge of what their own intent was than Anonymous Reader.
I would have a problem with what you're describing in re: "Sent Down," too - but I've also been on the other end, as a reader that, say, read something that I saw as offensive/racist/sexist. And although I wouldn't send the author an email about it or necessarily accuse the author of being a bad person, I would say to myself that it was whatever I thought it was. Just because the author doesn't mean it that way doesn't mean it didn't come out that way (execution matters, after all). It also doesn't make me automatically right (I could just be lazy, or I could have baggage). It just makes that the impression that the work gave me.
There are many stupid readers out there who misinterpret things on a regular basis, and I understand that misinterpretation sucks. I guess what I mean by saying authorial intent doesn't matter is that I don't think it's going to make any difference for these readers if a writer says "but that's not what I was doing at all." And that's kind of the whole gamble of exposing creations to people, is that they might respond to these creations in ways you do not want them to.
no subject
Of course the author also has the right to correct people who are wrong about their intent - it would be ridiculous if the author didn't have the right to say something about their own work. And obviously the author is a better judge of what their own intent was than Anonymous Reader.
I would have a problem with what you're describing in re: "Sent Down," too - but I've also been on the other end, as a reader that, say, read something that I saw as offensive/racist/sexist. And although I wouldn't send the author an email about it or necessarily accuse the author of being a bad person, I would say to myself that it was whatever I thought it was. Just because the author doesn't mean it that way doesn't mean it didn't come out that way (execution matters, after all). It also doesn't make me automatically right (I could just be lazy, or I could have baggage). It just makes that the impression that the work gave me.
There are many stupid readers out there who misinterpret things on a regular basis, and I understand that misinterpretation sucks. I guess what I mean by saying authorial intent doesn't matter is that I don't think it's going to make any difference for these readers if a writer says "but that's not what I was doing at all." And that's kind of the whole gamble of exposing creations to people, is that they might respond to these creations in ways you do not want them to.