I prefer to look at execution over intent in terms of works of art, but intent is absolutely helpful in terms of theory or philosophy or what have you, because intent isn't just a goal in those cases, it's essential context.

Execution should be like 50-60% of the interpretation of the literature, the rest is context. Historical, literatrary.

Well, execution in terms of narrative, anyway. Intent is a lot more helpful for works of nonfiction.

Like when one reads something like the Gulag Archipelago. You can't say that the authors intent wasn't to destroy the idea of sociallism and communism.

Oh yeah, Alex (can't spell his name right in full) totally intended that. And I think the execution speaks for itself, but intent is good there, too.

As far as what I mean with execution being more important than intent with works of fiction, I mean bad works that may been cool in concept. Or, hey, maybe even good works that could be accidentally better than intended. There's tons of little foreboding details in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (a painting of a swamp in the protagonist's office and other foreboding details hinting at her fate) that many people debate were intended or just the result of others looking into it really deeply, but either way, those details enhance the movie. Something like a political message, however, is best to be investigated as much as possible, because a misinterpretation there could cause harm or confusion.

Like the perfect example of good concept, bad execution is Ready Player One. It tries to do social criticism using vr and videogames but utterly fails at it.

A book similar to it that actually makes it work is Snow Crash.

Haven't heard of Snow crash, but if it pulls off that idea well, I should check it out. Thanks!

Usually.

They are long thou

I'm always interested by works with a certain intent that end up backfiring, like how the Soviets screened The Grapes of Wrath to besmirch the US but ended up achieving the opposite effect since everyone there was amazed we even had cars here.

I've read 3, Snow Crash, The Cryptonomicon, and The SevenEves.

I still think snow crash is his best book of the 3

I'll check it out. A lot of his books are deep and with a shitton of research.

Thou I love his deconstruction of feminist thought in Cryptonomicon. Written in the late 90's

Before feminism became as toxic as fememism.

It's one of my favorite passages from all his books

It's not a memorable book, it's good but it'll never be a classic

I think it's too early to make that call. I think it stands the test of time but not Asimov or Heinlein.

Sorry to interrupt, but back on the topic of authorial intent, my conscience gets a bit troubled when I see an amazing film like, say *Come and See,* which is a Russian film about a young boy who tries to ride out WW2 and ends up fighting for the Motherland to protect his countrymen from the Nazis. The execution of that film is apolitical, but is it moral to like a film that may be indirectly promoting communism?

I don't even consider it cypunk.

I think snow crash is cypunk and is actually going to be a classic. Cryptonomicon not so much.

I think it's best classification is historical fiction. Cryptonomicon.

I would also add in SevenEves but that's because it's his most recent work.

Just because a film or piece of literature is made in a time period and promotes certian ideas doesn't make it any better or worse. One of my favorite things about Soviet films is how they still speak to the human condition dispute them being propoganda

@Follow Doctor Freeman

The premise of 7eves is the boom blows up and the atmosphere is going to be in fire. How is humanity going to survive.

It's not bad. The problem of the book is it's first half is like The Martian on steroids, and the second half is unfinished.

I'm glad to hear someone else feels the same way; this is the movie I referred to, by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDq9fL--Avw

I'm reading Dostoyevsky slowly but surely in Russian.

It's super rough

Which one?

Crime and Punnishment is first up

Next is the Brothers, after that it'll probably be either notes from. Underground or the idiot

I think that's an exaggeration, but I'll see.

It may be bad Dostoyevsky. But it's still Dostoyevsky.

I've heard that most consider The Idiot his weakest, but that it's still very good. Although I haven't heard anything about Notes.

I'm only familair with C & P and Brothers, myself, and it's been too long.

It's also classic Russian literature.

That shit is always at minimum 500 pages