What Is “Interpretation”? What does it mean to “interpret” something? –What’s the point of interpretation? –What’s the end result of interpretation? In other words, what do we end up with when you’re “done” interpreting?

On Interpretation Interpretation “means transforming a story, play, or poem into an essay.” When we read we “complete” a text—we fill in “gaps in the narrative.”

On Interpretation “The major function of interpretation is to say what a previous text has left unsaid: to unravel its complications, to make explicit its implications, and to raise its concrete and specific details to a more abstract and general level. That is... The interpreter must find a way of writing about the general principles of human behavior that are embodied in the specific situations and events of any story. The interpreter must say what the story is about.” Robert Scholes

On Interpretation “Reading is a process of constructing meaning or composing a text, exactly like writing. The reading of any difficult text will entail drafting and revision (largely in the reader’s head) and will frequently begin with what amounts to a zero [rough] draft. Just as writing may be defined as rewriting, so is any reading worth doing essentially a process of rereading.” “Reading is... a social process, completed in conversation.” Sheridan Blau