Why I dislike interpretation

[Kitan Etos]

I remember in school we always had to read classic literature and give our opinions on what we read. The teacher would tell us what experts had interpreted in relation to the literature.

I was just doing some dishes and a baby roach crossed the counter top. I killed it.

It reminded me of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Maybe why he wrote what he really did was because he killed a roach in his own home and thought to himself, "That creature had a family and I just killed it."

Anyone who has read the work in question will understand.

[Rev. Rye]

Which is odd, considering that the only time the story hints at his species (at least in the original German), it’s a cleaning lady calling him a dung beetle. The word for cockroach (Kakerlake) is never used. Unless there’s a different word used in Prague German that I’m not finding.

[Sal]

I have not read that.

Seems to me that interpretation is inescapable if ya want a deeper understanding of pretty much any literary matter, I mean isn't that the case with pretty much any subject too?

[zebo-the-fat]

It always bugged me, at school they would ask "Why did that character do that?" I always thought, it's just a story, he did it because the author wrote it that way!
Maybe that's why I failed the exam!

[Rev. Rye]

[Ranjr]

Ishmael and Queequeg represent love between men of diverse cultures.  The white whale is your mom.

[brewer]

I remember in school we always had to read classic literature and give our opinions on what we read. The teacher would tell us what experts had interpreted in relation to the literature.

I was just doing some dishes and a baby roach crossed the counter top. I killed it.

It reminded me of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Maybe why he wrote what he really did was because he killed a roach in his own home and thought to himself, "That creature had a family and I just killed it."

Anyone who has read the work in question will understand.

I think your responses should always be thru interpretive dance.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I remember in school we always had to read classic literature and give our opinions on what we read. The teacher would tell us what experts had interpreted in relation to the literature.

I was just doing some dishes and a baby roach crossed the counter top. I killed it.

It reminded me of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Maybe why he wrote what he really did was because he killed a roach in his own home and thought to himself, "That creature had a family and I just killed it."

Anyone who has read the work in question will understand.

What always got up my nose regarding interpretation is that if you disagree with the experts, you’re somehow wrong.

While not all interpretations are equally valid, art is intensely personal. If a book or a play or a statue means such-and-such to you, then that’s what it means.

Boru

[GrandizerII]

I remember in school we always had to read classic literature and give our opinions on what we read. The teacher would tell us what experts had interpreted in relation to the literature.

I was just doing some dishes and a baby roach crossed the counter top. I killed it.

It reminded me of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Maybe why he wrote what he really did was because he killed a roach in his own home and thought to himself, "That creature had a family and I just killed it."

Anyone who has read the work in question will understand.

Ok, well, I haven't read his work. So why do you dislike interpretation? Or do you mean you have an issue with the notion of "expert interpretation" being considered the true interpretation?

[Kitan Etos]

Ok, well, I haven't read his work. So why do you dislike interpretation? Or do you mean you have an issue with the notion of "expert interpretation" being considered the true interpretation?

The latter. Also, as I already stated, perhaps the entire basis of him having created the story was merely to alleviate his conscience over having killed a bug, and that literary interpreters are thinking the man was a genius simply for having written it.