Addendum to Last Post

[alixtii]

I wrote yesterday that there’s a difference between the way fanficcers and fundamentalists approach their texts, with fundamentalists wanting the “right” interpretation with fanficcers only wanting the “best” interpretation. It doesn’t matter if the most reasonable interpretation of the Bible is that the Rapture is in two hundred years if God actually meant that it would start in an hour, and thus it is going to start in a hour. In a sense, fundamentalists still privilege authorial intent (it doesn't matter what God wrote as much as what God meant), and fanficcers don’t always do that (thank God).

Then it occurred to me that there are fanficcers for whom it is meaningful to speak of a difference between a “best” interpretation and the “right” one—those in an open canon. If one sees the entire source text as describing the same popsssible world, even when some of it isn’t written yet, then it’s true that the best interpretation of a part of the canon won’t always be “right.” Seen in this light, those fundamentalist Christians who make a reasonable conclusion about what Scripture means but are ultimately wrong can be sort of seen as being jossed by God.

This is of course why there’s an impetus to privilege authorial intent in an open canon like Harry Potter—it’s the best reliable indicator of what new canon will bring. Equally coherent interpretations of the same canon are only equal so long as no new canon is coming. It’s also why I’d be glad that I write in a closed canon if it weren’t for the fact that I so badly want to see Juliet Landau and Summer Glau to play their characters once again.

Comments

[lastscorpion.livejournal.com]

I never have anything intellectual to add to discussions like this, but I still enjoy reading them. Why am I commenting now, then?

jossed by God.

That's a terrific phrase! It needs to be a t-shirt or an icon or something.

:-D

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Well, it's good to know you're reading. Thanks!

[inalasahl]

Gotta second the love of "jossed by God."