Interviewers and Caldwell

When two persistent interviewers asked Caldwell if he would define Fiddler, his answer was "Nope." It was his averment that meaning is a function of the story.

Responses to Requests for Meaning

That is one of the two responses an author can make to requests for meaning. The other is to say what he was trying to do; that, too, is about the story, not of it.

The Story's Measure of Meaning

It is only the story itself that can give the reader its measure of meaning. This story fails, finally, to be adequate.