Casey A. Gollan: Notes + Links

I have already set forth my convictions on this subject; but it cannot be emphasized often enough; there is no true meaning of a text. The author has absolutely no authority. Whatever he may have wanted to say, he has written what he has written. Once published, a text is like a mechanism which everyone can use according to his ways and means: there is no certainty of its maker using it better than anyone else. Furthermore, if he really knows what he wanted to do, this knowledge always disturbs his perception of what he has done.

Paul Valéry, Concerning Le Cimetière marin, in The Creative Vision, via Notes of the Author on The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski

Sometimes I wish there was as much good art about art-making as there is writing-about-writing; but I find that most excellent writing-about-writing applies pretty perfectly to everything.