“The old style of interpretation was insistent, but respectful; it erected another meaning on top of the literal one. The modern style of interpretation excavates, and as it excavates, destroys; it digs ‘behind’ the text, to find a sub-text which is the true one.”

—  Susan Sontag

Source: Against Interpretation and Other Essays (1966), p. 6

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American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist 1933–2004

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