Tuesday, April 21, 2009

From "Against Interpretation"

"Interpretation must itself be evaluated, within a historical view of human consciousness. In some cultural contexts, interpretation is a liberating act. It is a means of revising, of transvaluing of escaping the dead pat. In other contexts, it is reactionary, impertinent, cowardly, stifling. " p.7

"interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art." p.7

"Interpretation makes art manageable, conformable." p.8

"The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means." p.14

Susan Sontag
"Against Interpretation and Other Essays"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like these quotes. I'll have to read more. This is totally the style of http://neverstopseeing.com, but I don't like, "In other contexts, it is reactionary, impertinent, cowardly, stifling." Boooooo! Hehe