“..interpretation is not (as most people assume) an absolute value, a gesture of mind situated in some timeless realm of capabilities. Interpretation must itself be evaluated, within a historical view of human consciousness. In some cultural contexts, interpretation is a liberating act. It is a means of revising, of translating, of escaping the dead past. In other cultural contexts, it is reactionary, impertinent, cowardly, stifling.”
Susan Sontag (1961) Against Interpretation and other essays. Penguin