Sigokat Wrote:Picard, I agree somewhat, but when it comes to teaching Lit and reading the classics, its not like teachers can text message Kafka, Shakespeare, Camus, Kant, Faulkner, etc. and ask them what they really meant.
So in The [B]Metamorphosis did Kafka really mean that Gregor Samsa woke up as a large bug one morning? [/B]
Now that would have been interesting.
No, like I said, there are times where there is much more than the surface meaning, where something is chosen due to its symbolism, I completely agree there. My point though was that, its exactly as you say, how do we
know what Shakespeare meant, we don't
know. We can guess based on what information we have culled from his history and how that may have influenced his stories and the result may be well informed and a best guess, but thats all it is, a guess. I wish we could contact them, if only to find out how off-base we were in assuming things.
I guess part of my issue with this subject is that I hate being told what something means. I have no problem with being told that something is the generally accepted interpretation, but to me a better way to teach Lit would be to read it, discuss it, find out what it means to you, to others, see how that compares to the accepted interpretation.