This reminds me of high school English class: let's obsessively analyze this book/play/whatever, trying to discern the secret meanings and fundamental truths the author has elaborately hidden inside his or her work.
When in actuality, the author was probably just writing what they wanted to, and what sounded good on the page. As in this case, where the author literally says, "I add Wally when I come to what I feel is a good place."
In college that happened to me when an author came and spoke about their work and when we asked them about all of the meanings and "hidden truths" we had been debated we were told they were all unintentional and had no deeper meaning.
Really took a lot of the magic out of reading books for me when I started meta analysing the discussions and the probability that there was no intentional hidden meaning in many of the stories we were reading.
Suppose a "hidden truth" turned out not to have been intended by the author — would that make it less true?
One of the beautiful things about art (and life) is that it literally is what we make of it (or what we can make from it using the evidence at hand).
Authorial intent is super interesting, of course, and can enrich your understanding, but it's also pretty rare information. Often the work itself is all that remains after the author's gone.
At that point, it doesn't matter what the author "meant". You read what they left you to read and get whatever value from that you can.
> Suppose a "hidden truth" turned out not to have been intended by the author — would that make it less true?
Yes, it's not true.
Unless it was a side effect, like if they came from a repressed society X and those effects bleed through to the story. Then there might be unintentional hidden meanings.
The concept art and culture is whatever the user sees it as is a cop out. (Unless the artist intended it that way)
We don't put up with it in the sciences, why put up with it in the arts?
It really doesn't matter if the author / artist intended it or not, if people together find a deeper meaning and talk about it, that's perfectly valid.
I think you missed the point. The point, to me at least, was that (a) humans have tendencies, and (b) the author of the article wanted to see if he could detect Handford's tendencies with simple analysis. It was a clever idea for an article and well done, I thought.
When in actuality, the author was probably just writing what they wanted to, and what sounded good on the page. As in this case, where the author literally says, "I add Wally when I come to what I feel is a good place."