Maybe I'm not wrong all the time...

“Imagine my surprise, then, at the variety of interpretations that P.P. Cuéllar’s misadventures deserved: the parable of an important social class, castration of the artist in the under-developed world, a paraphrase of the aphasia among young people brought on by comic strip culture, a metaphor of my own ineptitude as a narrator. Why not? Any one of these may be correct. One thing I have learned from writing is that in this craft nothing is ever entirely clear: truth is a lie and the lie truth, and no one knows for whom it works. What’s certain is that literature does not solve problems—instead it creates them—and rather than happy, it makes people more apt to be unhappy. That’s how it is and it’s all part of my way of living and I wouldn’t change it for any other.” – Mario Vargas Llosa

I have always wondered what authors felt about the various interpretations of their work. I guess I assumed that there was a “correct” and “incorrect” interpretation as the author must have had a particular intention in mind. With this quote Vargas Llosa proves my reasoning to be false. Here it seems that he is saying that sometimes, authors just write and interpretation is left to the reader. Surprisingly, I am pleased with this revelation.

I remember when Dr. Conway made a comment in class regarding The Sentimental Education. He jokingly (I think) mentioned that reading this novel was a personality test. He may have been joking, but I think he has a good point. If in literature, as Vargas Llosa affirms, interpretation is in the hands of the reader, then, in fact, the revelation of the meaning behind it is really a revelation of yourself.

This leads me to my first post in a way. As readers and as individuals, we bring into our interpretations our own personal experiences. Therefore, what one piece of work means to one person, can mean something totally different to another.

Anyways, this causes me to begin my viscous cycle of questioning on how literature should be taught and received... or any non-quantitative subject area. At the same time, it helps me to understand that perhaps I am not crazy for having completely different interpretations than the majority of my classmates when it comes to certain pieces of literature. In the end, even if conclusions are different, it still evokes thought. And isn’t that the whole point?