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My book club nearly split in half over whether 'projection' means the same thing in fiction vs. therapy
Last month we argued for 45 minutes straight about whether a character's motivations are just the author projecting their own issues, and our newest member walked out saying we were overanalyzing a simple thriller. Has anyone else had a debate get that personal about a book's hidden meaning?
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baker.christopher18d ago
Respectfully disagree. Authors can't help but put themselves into their characters.
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anthonynelson18d ago
It is just a story, nobody actually has any hidden issues worth projecting.
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young.thomas17d ago
Man, I gotta say I feel you on this one. It's frustrating when people insist there's some deep hidden meaning behind every little story. Sometimes a story is just a story, plain and simple. Not everything needs to be psychoanalyzed or turned into some big metaphor about the author's secret issues. I've read plenty of books where the author probably just wanted to tell a cool tale without all that extra baggage. So yeah, I'm with you on this.
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