For me, the way I see it, only the creator's perspective is the valid one. If they were able to fully express it in their work, it will be for us to find it. If we can find it, then we will understand the why's and how's of their work.
Then, we can interpret it from our perspective after that, as the observer/reader/audience. Because, only then we can truly have a fair comparison and understanding of their art. It is only then we can truly “feel” and “connect” with them.
Personally, I don't agree with the writers who say that it is no longer theirs. If it is no longer theirs, then there shouldn't be any Copyright to it, it should be in the Public Domain. Me, as the audience/reader, can do whatever I want with it.
But that is not the case. Most of those writers who say that, will go to the court, or complain, how this writer and that writer “stole” their work. How they “own” it, and those other writers reinterpreted it differently from how they intended it to be. In the end, it's clear, the finished work is still theirs and theirs alone; because art is a creator's perspective and interpretation of a subject/issue around them.