The Death of the Author debate is way too blinkered in scope

[druid91]

Yep, its all on the page. And if your are ever confuses what it means then the author is literally the ultimate authority. If the sword was made for ornamental or ceremonial purposes and is blunt and unusable. You might want to find that out before you try to stab someone with it. Sounds to me like the author is fairly important to listen to there.

You're missing the point. Almost willfully it seems.

It's all on the page. If you are confused. You look at the page. The Author is dead, don't ask the author. If what is on the page is insufficient, then the work is poorly written.

If I write "Joe frequently met Bob at the Market, and the two quarreled incessantly about everything from women to the right fruits to buy in which season."

And then later claim that Joe and Bob never quarreled. That makes me wrong, even if I'm the author. The book is seperate from the author and attempting to enforce some manner of artificial canon based on that author's whims is not only unreasonable, (As it requires keeping track of everything the author ever says, and if taken to it's logical conclusion essentially abandoning the work as unreadable following their death.) it's downright nonsensical.

Read the book. Not the Author.