From wikipedia: “The Death of the Author (French: La mort de l’auteur) is a 1967 essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes. Barthes’s essay argues against traditional literary criticism’s practice of incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of a text, and instead argues that writing and creator are unrelated. ”

From the text: “Once the Author is gone, the claim to “decipher” a text becomes quite useless. To give an Author to a text is to impose upon that text a stop clause, to furnish it with a final signification, to close the writing. This conception perfectly suits criticism, which can then take as its major task the discovery of the Author (or his hypostases: society, history, the psyche, freedom) beneath the work: once the Author is discovered, the text is “explained:’”

http://www.tbook.constantvzw.org/wp-content/death_authorbarthes.pdf

Should an artist’s personal views affect how you interact with his artwork? What if those views you object to are not present in the work itself? In this particular case, Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game (a personal favorite), had his book turned into a movie and many people who object to his political views are suggesting you boycott the movie to protest the author’s political views. Three articles linked below about the issue.

http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2013/10/enders-game-boycott-orson-scott-card-gay-marriage-geeks-out

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-rubysachs/call-off-the-enders-game_b_4140087.html

How effectively can you adapt a book into a movie? What about a comic book? What happens when the creator of the book hates the idea of a movie adaptation? Should his opinion count for anything? Does he have a monopoly on how his art is viewed or interpreted?

https://www.wired.com/2008/09/alan-moore-will/