#interpretation

This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be their task to translate the elements of the poem or play or novel or story into something else. Sometimes a writer will be so uneasy before the naked power of his art that he will install within the work itself - albeit with a little shyness, a touch of the good taste of irony - the clear and explicit interpretation of it. Thomas Mann is an example of such an overcooperative author. In the case of more stubborn authors, the critic is only too happy to perform the job. ↗

— Susan Sontag

#allegory #criticism #art

Nothing is inanimate; what is the rest is our interpretation. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#dejan-stojanovic #inanimate #inanimate-objects #interpretation #literature

The image titled “The Homeless, Psalm 85:10,” featured on the cover of ELEMENTAL, can evoke multiple levels of response. They may include the spiritual in the form of a studied meditation upon the multidimensional qualities of the painting itself; or an extended contemplation of the scripture in the title, which in the King James Bible reads as follows: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” The painting can also inspire a physical response in the form of tears as it calls to mind its more earth-bound aspects; namely, the very serious plight of those who truly are homeless in this world, whether born into such a condition, or forced into it by poverty or war. ↗

— Aberjhani

#compassion #culture #homelessness #interpretation #justice

Theologians and other clerks, You won't understand this book, -- However bright your wits -- If you do not meet it humbly, And in this way, Love and Faith Make you surmount Reason, for They are the protectors of Reason's house. ↗

— Marguerite Porete

#feminism #interpretation #medieval #mystic #religion

Everyone in a complex system has a slightly different interpretation. The more interpretations we gather, the easier it becomes to gain a sense of the whole. ↗

— Margaret J. Wheatley

#complex #complex system #different #easier #everyone

If there really is such a thing as turning in one's grave, Shakespeare must get a lot of exercise. ↗

— George Orwell

#classics #drama #interpretation #shakespeare #art

But a man may then imagine in your work what he pleases, what you never meant!" Not what he pleases, but what he can. ↗

— George MacDonald

#reading #writing #imagination

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation. ↗

— Walter Benjamin

#human #human knowledge #interpretation #knowledge #takes

History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us. ↗

— Johan Huizinga

#interpretation #past #significance #us

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose. ↗

— Charlie Chaplin

#additional #creator #does #explained #fulfilled