Steven has him temporarily distracted, but that sudden, intense reactionary anger is neither averted nor abated.

"Not even close. First of all--no, what? How did you even get that? You can use both to interpret a work, I guess? No, death of the author isn't a fucking metaphor. It's a form of literary criticism. In this case, it's also literal. That's point two. Hussie dies within the body of his own work after an extended sequence involving the precise limits and scope of his interference in the story. I won't pretend I was uninvolved, but not--"

He doesn't quite pause, making a split second decision about his choice of words--

"--singularly. Point three, we bring back point one--the intent of the author? Meaningless. Done. Abandoned. The canon is dead. Long live the canon."