Against Interpretation

Against Interpretation is a seminal 1964 essay by the American critic and public intellectual Susan Sontag. First published in the influential journal The New York Review of Books, the work serves as a forceful manifesto against the dominant modes of hermeneutic and Marxist literary and art criticism prevalent in the mid-20th century. Sontag argues that the Western intellectual tradition's obsession with discovering hidden meanings has become an impediment to truly experiencing a work of art. The essay, later collected in her 1966 volume Against Interpretation and Other Essays, became a cornerstone of cultural criticism and helped define the aesthetic sensibilities of the 1960s.

Background and publication

The essay emerged during a period of intense theoretical debate within the New York intellectual scene, where figures like Lionel Trilling and Irving Howe championed forms of social criticism that Sontag found reductive. Written in 1964, it was first published in the newly founded The New York Review of Books, a publication that quickly became a central forum for high-level cultural discourse. This context placed Sontag in direct conversation with the legacy of Freudian and Marxist theory, as well as with the emerging European movements of French New Wave cinema and the Theatre of the Absurd. The essay's publication coincided with a growing interest in pop art and the philosophies of thinkers like Roland Barthes, signaling a shift toward valuing surface and sensation over depth and decoding.

Summary of arguments

Sontag posits that interpretation, particularly in its modern, psychoanalytic and Marxist forms, is largely a reactionary practice that seeks to tame and assimilate challenging art by translating it into a set of manageable concepts. She traces this tendency back through Plato and Aristotle, through the Christian allegorical reading of the Bible, to the modern "camp" of interpretation that treats the artwork as a problem to be solved. Instead, Sontag champions an "erotics of art," urging critics and audiences to focus on a work's formal qualities—its sensory, immediate presence—rather than its supposed content or meaning. She cites the direct sensory impact of works by artists like Andy Warhol and filmmakers like Robert Bresson and Jean-Luc Godard as models for this more visceral engagement.

Critical reception

Upon its release, the essay was met with both acclaim and controversy within intellectual circles. It was praised by avant-garde artists and critics aligned with movements like minimalism and the French New Wave for its bold dismissal of established critical orthodoxies. However, it was sharply criticized by traditionalist scholars and Marxist critics who saw it as a frivolous attack on serious intellectual engagement and a surrender to mere aestheticism. Figures associated with the Frankfurt School, such as Theodor W. Adorno, whose work also grappled with art's autonomy, found points of both agreement and contention with Sontag's polemic. The essay solidified Sontag's reputation as a leading, if provocative, voice in American criticism.

Influence and legacy

"Against Interpretation" profoundly shaped late-20th-century discourse in art criticism, film theory, and literary theory. It provided a crucial theoretical justification for the appreciation of pop art, camp, and other non-traditional forms that emphasized style and surface. The essay's arguments prefigured and influenced later developments in post-structuralism, particularly the work of Roland Barthes on the "death of the author" and the pleasures of the text. Its call for descriptive, rather than prescriptive, criticism can be seen in the later practices of phenomenological criticism and certain strands of cultural studies. The essay remains a foundational text in debates about the purpose of criticism and the experience of art, frequently cited in discussions of works ranging from the films of David Lynch to the installations of Damien Hirst.

See also

* The Death of the Author * On Photography * Notes on 'Camp' * Aestheticism * Formalism (art) * Postmodernism * Simulacra and Simulation

Category:1964 essays Category:American essays Category:Literary criticism Category:Works by Susan Sontag