It is a terrible thing for an author to have a lot of people running about his book without any invitation from him at all.
Interpretation
An author values control over their work and may feel discomfort when others interpret or interact with it without permission.
A. A. Milne highlights the intense connection authors have with their creations, emphasizing that a book is a personal expression and can evoke feelings of violation or unease when it is engaged with in unexpected ways by others. This quote underlines the struggle between an artist's desire for audience engagement and the fear of misinterpretation or unauthorized intrusion.
In practice
During a writing workshop, to express the importance of artistic ownership.
And how are you?" said Winnie-the-Pooh. Eeyore shook his head from side to side. "Not very how," he said. "I don't seem to have felt at all how for a long time." "Dear, dear," said Pooh, "I'm sorry about that. Let's have a look at you.
Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once.
Time is swift, it races by; Opportunities are born and die... Still you wait and will not try - A bird with wings who dares not rise and fly.
Did I miss?" you asked. "You didn't exactly miss," said Pooh, "But you missed the balloon." "I'm so sorry," you said, and you fired again, and this time you hit the balloon and the air came slowly out, and Winnie-the-Pooh floated down to the ground.
Come, come, come. Without a monster or two it's not a quest, merely a gaggle of friends wandering about.
Friendship," said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have.
I designed 'Buffy' to be an icon, to be an emotional experience, to be loved in a way that other shows can't be loved. Because it's about adolescence, which is the most important thing people go through in their development, becoming an adult.
Even now, nature is the only flame, on which the poetic spirit feeds; from it alone it draws all its power, to it alone it speaks even in the artificial, in the man engaged in culture.
The musical has always been in jeopardy - until - or was in jeopardy until it was realised that it is probably the safest living theatre art form.
I am not retiring. Writers don't retire. Writers never stop writing.
The story itself, the true story, is the one that the audience members create in their minds, guided and shaped by my text, but then transformed, elucidated, expanded, edited, and clarified by their own experience, their own desires, their own hopes and fears.
I'm totally crazy, I know that. I don't say that to be a smartass, but I know that that's the very essence of what makes my work good. And I know my work is good. Not everybody likes it, that's fine. I don't do it for everybody. Or anybody. I do it because I can't not do it.
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