Misinterpreting Literature

[sr71plt]

You mean the point of the story of Jonah isn't that a guy got swallowed by a whale?

 

[fifty5]

Especially the right to bear arms.

As a means to prevent the state taking over - NOT as a right to shoot moose!

Similarly the division between state and church - to prevent control of individuals by ANY theological caucus.

The US constitution (as amended) is absolutely ace; why doesn't the Right (as illustrated by the GOP label) recognise this?

From an Outsider...

 

[rgraham666]

Because like many people they use it as an excuse, not a guideline.

 

[Munachi]

As much as I respect Shakespeare, he wasnt a deep thinker. The meaning of his plays are pretty much what you see and hear. He dramatized human issues nearly everyone recognized. Yet most people believe the meaning of his plays are as subterranean as Dante's inferno. They arent.

the more i read and think about "The Tempest" (which is i guess the piece i spent most attention on, most of the others i just read for fun) the more I disagree with this.

 

[Saucy_Sage]

You mean the point of the story of Jonah isn't that a guy got swallowed by a whale?

Like the Old Man and the Sea. Or Jaws. I love fishing stories!

 

[xssve]

I guess everybody interprets literature in their own way. I do agree that, to a great extent, it should be what you want it to be. The author puts it out there and shouldn't tell you what it means. That is for you to decide.

However, possibly for personal reasons, there are some common interpretations that annoy me. For instance, "The Road Less Travelled". I find that poem very ironic and mocking of people who say things like that but it seems like every other person thinks it's inspirational. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does.

Also, Nabokov's Lolita. People who talk about that story, talk about Lolita like she is a seductress. Almost across the board. It gets under my skin like nobody's business. She didn't seduce anybody. You know, grrr. I read Invitation to a Beheading and, in the forward, I got the feeling it really bothred Nabokov as well. Basically, he said the book was for those few reader who understood him and everybody else could fuck off. And that was a much later work.

So, I am very curious if anybody else has anything like that. A widely read piece that you feel that most people get completely wrong. And it just bothers you to no end.

Anybody else have that with anything?

Thus Spake Zarathustra was advocating civil disobedience, IMO, not a Machiavellian manual for wannabe supermen.

The Prince itself was a satirical work.

i.e., it doesn't always pay to be subtle.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

I have an M.A. in English literature and taught college lit. classes for quite a time. In my opinion, everyone has a right to their own interpretation of a given literary work, though in some instances, there are 'givens' about a certain text. I think the beauty of language is in its ability to constantly regenerate and create new ideas and discourses. I'm not real big on absolutes.

 

[nicole_quinn26]

^^ Well said indeed.

The same goes for famous works of art, many people interpret them in different ways. Only the master himself knows what it means that's one of my draws to art is the stories that can be told from it. However....

If someone makes reference to the Last Supper, the DaVinci Code or anything relating to that garbage I might have to shun you or laugh... or both. Cause it's just fiction not fact and that's not Mary Magdeline that's John the Evangelist, and DaVinci could care less about religion, he was a scientist. He just knew what paid the bills. [/rant] I just hate how people believed this was true.... I had fun knocking some girl off her high horse in my one art history class about this. I'm usually not 'that person' just when it comes to this stuff!

 

[NoJo]

...
However, possibly for personal reasons, there are some common interpretations that annoy me. ..

I guess I mix in good company, because the people I know who've read Lolita generally see it as a book about male sexuality, not about 12 year-old girls.

I can't stand seeing "wherefore art thou Romeo" quoted by people who think "wherefore" means "where" and not "why".