Trusting the Author

Recently in class we talked a little about trusting the author of a work. Essentually, should you take the author's words as fact, as what really happened/is happening. Now, before I continue, I am also refering to a fictional author telling a purposfully fictional story, in this case however, trusting that what you are being told is what actually happened in the fictional plane of existance. Anywho, back to my main point: The question "Should you trust the author?" Really struck me in a strange way. I've always trusted the author of every work I've read. I didn't even know you didn't have to trust the author. If in the middle of a love story all the sudden space monkeys attack then you take that as what actually happened, space monkeys just started attacking, no questions asked. A bit strange, yes, but hey, it's not my story to change.

So, what happens when you start not trusting what the author is telling you? Well, from what I can see, you can go anywhere and take the story anywhere. When you stop taking the text seriously your interperation runs rampant. Suddenly, when the author says "The cat ran up the tree." It no longer means that a small feline made it's way up into a tree, it can mean anything from "the cat dug a hole and sat in it" to "communism is corrupting our youth." It all becomes a matter of what you want the text to say, not what it actually says.