is the author's life as important as her book?

dear emily,

i accompanied my mother in law all the way down to florida's tiny key
west for a writer's seminar.    to rub shoulders with the reigning kings and
queens of the literary kingdom and not to make a total fool of myself has
been tiring.   and exhilarating.

i knew enough to be bring sunscreen, but should have also brought my
dictionary.  the authors' jargon of choice was poly-everything.   polyphonic,
polymath, polysyllabic . . . all i knew was polyester.

the key note speaker, phyllis rose, maintained that we should be careful
judging the author by her book.    some of her may be in the book, but she
might also be completely different.   it made me wonder, who is the most
important, the author or the book?

i adore jane eyre but am only grateful to charlotte bronte.    should it be the
other way around?   which came first . . . miss bronte?   or did she come
alive as she created her lovely book?

the chicken or the egg?   my brain is a little scrambled.

love,
lea

ps.  "but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us."    2 corinthians 4:7