Against Interpretation is an essay by Susan Sontag that criticizes the prevailing emphasis on interpreting and analyzing works of art, arguing for a focus on experiencing and appreciating art for its own sake.
updated 5mo ago
I went into Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” thinking we would disagree, but her take is more nuanced. She’s against interpreting an artist’s intentions to make it fit your own narrative; but she’s for analysis of the thing itself (it’s form and the sensation it evokes). By the end, she pleas for a “dictionary of forms,” which feels like the
... See moreMichael Dean added
In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.