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Um, logging onto a new website. No kidding.
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Ummm...*cough*cough* ahem...anyway...
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(1) the original meaning to come across the cultural and chronological divide,
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But is this always possible? Is there a possibility that the meanings and themes of the original work would not translate across that barrier?
This is not to say that the message could not be academically understood by those on the sea coast (I just love that analogy
) but it might not be able to create an emotional gut reaction in the readers. The values of the mountain are most often different from those of the coast. In some cases VERY different. The story itself could still be edifying (or whatever other constructive adjective you care to insert) but IMO to be great a story has to strike an emotional chord. It might not be able to do this if it is displaying the value system of the mountain.
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(2) for the author/writer's gloss on that meaning to do so as well
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Just to contradict what I said above, if the author puts his own gloss on the story is it still true(ish) to the original?
(P.S. I'm not disagreeing with you, but raising points for discussion since I'm interested in reading interpretations of an author's responsibility [or not] to make the material accessable to the audience, and retain a cultural "feel" to his story.)