Death of the author
The “Death of the Author” concept posits that the author’s background should not be brought up when trying to interpret the work. Eg just because the author experienced some hardship, it doesn’t mean all or any of her writing is somekind of statement about the matter. Or that because the author has publicly expressed some political or religious view, that their fiction writing is some kind of covert act the promote those same views. And this is not just a “benefit of the doubt” thing either — I think great many artists use their art as a kind of outlet that has very little to do with the rest of their life. It’s much more likely that a work of art does not have a hidden meaning than that it does, because humans are so adept at seeing patterns which are really just accidental.
And there is also the fact that opinions of an artist might change over time, while their art products must remain static. Even if a work did show their thinking at the point of its creation, who’s to say it wasn’t just a momentary thought, one that could be totally at odds with their usual opinions? Often art needs to be “extreme” in order to deliver intended impact, and sometimes this may superficially look like a strong public declaration of opinion, while in truth it’s just a necessary part of making it art.