Interpreting Literary Figures
“Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.” - Susan Sontag I never understood the sense in interpreting literary figures. I mean, these are works of fiction. The characters may be all that the author tells about them, maybe more. But how can anyone know that for sure? Least of all in cases of characters from a different era. Besides, are humans really rational? Or are they contradictory? I personally agree with John Gray who said: “If belief in human rationality were a scientific theory it would long since have been falsified and abandoned.” And if we aren’t rational, who is to say why a person (literary or otherwise) did what he did? Rational reasons, for spite, to see if he could do it or just to mess with everyone else? JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame believes that too. Which is why when she was asked if Albus Dumbledore was gay , replied: “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” Note she doesn’...