作家が小説を書くときは、頭の中に書いているシーンが「絵」や「映像」として浮かんでいます。そのシーンを言語化し、文字という記号にしているのです。読者は作家が書いた文字を読み、頭の中で想像しながら映像化します。そこで（注1）感情移入が起きて、笑ったり、涙したりしているのです。
小説が（注2）ベストセラーとなり映画化されると（注3）「この配役じゃない」「そのシーンは違う」といった声がよく上がりますが、これは当たり前のことです。映画というのは監督が原作を読んでイメージを膨らませ、映像化した作品だからです。原作の小説は読者一人一人が作家からの記号（文字）を受け取って、それぞれが自由にシーンを思い浮かべています。
フランスの哲学者ロラン・バルトはこの現象を「作者の死」と表現しました。
「物語は作者の意図通りに読まなくてもいい。読者が好きな読み方をして、それぞれ解釈すればいい」
「作者は作品を支配できず、読者に解釈を任せなければならない」
ロラン・バルトはそう主張しました。私たちは作品の解釈を作者に求めがちです。これは作者の意図を正確に読み取ろうという発想です。そうではなく、作品の解釈は読者それぞれでいい。読者それぞれが頭の中で好き勝手に映像化していいのです。
AI translation, cross-checked between two models.
When a writer writes a novel, the scenes they are writing appear in their mind as “pictures” or “moving images.” The writer puts those scenes into language and turns them into the symbols we call written words. Readers read the words written by the author and, using their imagination, turn them back into images in their minds. This gives rise to emotional involvement, causing readers to laugh or shed tears.（注1）
When a novel becomes a bestseller and is adapted into a film, people often say things such as, “That actor isn't right for the role,” or “That scene isn't like that,” but this is perfectly natural.（注2）（注3） This is because a film is a work in which the director reads the original story, develops their own mental image of it, and turns that image into visuals. With the original novel, each reader receives the symbols—the written words—from the author and freely imagines the scenes in their own way.
The French philosopher Roland Barthes described this phenomenon as “the death of the author.”
“A story does not have to be read exactly as the author intended. Readers may read it however they like and interpret it in their own way.”
“The author cannot control the work and must leave its interpretation to the readers.”
That was the argument made by Roland Barthes. We tend to look to the author for the interpretation of a work. This way of thinking seeks to understand the author's intention accurately. Instead, each reader may have their own interpretation of the work. Each reader is free to visualize the work however they like in their own mind.
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